Mainstream media overlooks data showing decrease in maternal mortality

Pro-life researchers have noticed that new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data — revealing an almost 17 percent decrease in overall maternal mortality — is going largely unreported in mainstream media. 

In an analysis for National Review, Dr. Michael New, an associate professor of social research at the Catholic University of America, points out outlets such as Yahoo!, the Associated Press, PBS, and CBS News chose to report only on the slight increase in Black maternal mortality, ignoring the overall decrease.

“Granted, it is newsworthy that the maternal morality [sic] rate fell for other racial and ethnic groups and not African American women,” Dr. New writes. “However, the fact that the U.S. maternal mortality rate fell by nearly 17 percent in 2023 is extremely newsworthy.”

As Dr. New goes on to conclude, it is unsurprising that mainstream media is downplaying the “positive public health trends that have occurred post-Dobbs” – in the years since the reversal of Roe v. Wade, many outlets have reported on maternal mortality exclusively through the lens of abortion legality. 

Notably, however, the U.S. reportedly experienced an increase in abortions in 2023 – so why are mainstream media outlets now holding back from correlating a rise in abortions with the decrease in maternal mortality?

READ: ‘PREVENTABLE’: How pro-abortion media is weaponizing reporting on maternal deaths

Nationwide reporting on abortion incidence is less reliable than ever

According to Dr. New, the rise in distribution of chemical abortion drugs in recent years may have impacted the integrity of statistics on actual abortions.

“Some of the recent abortion data comes from entities that send chemical abortion pills through the mail. These organizations have incentives to inflate their numbers,” Dr. New told Live Action News. “Additionally, simply because a chemical abortion pill was ordered does not mean a chemical abortion was actually obtained. A woman who ordered a chemical may have changed her mind. Also, there are some media reports that women are ordering chemical abortion pills for future use.” This is known as “advance provision,” and it is being heavily promoted.

Dr. Ingrid Skop, vice president and director of medical affairs for the Charlotte Lozier Institute, concurred with Dr. New, cautioning that, due to the lack of mandatory reporting of actual abortion numbers across the states, industry reports of increasing abortions must be scrutinized. 

“Because abortion drugs can be distributed without any medical supervision, we don’t know how many women are taking the abortion drugs or potentially stockpiling them,” Dr. Skop told Live Action News.

No correlation between higher abortion numbers and reduced maternal mortality

Pro-life researchers say there are a wealth of examples disproving the concept that a higher number of abortions leads to a lower maternal mortality rate. 

Dr. New added that, despite U.S. abortion numbers reportedly increasing in 2023, “there is no correlation between rising abortion numbers and reductions in maternal mortality.” Dr. New pointed out that, after Texas began enforcing its pro-life law in 2022, maternal mortality in the state declined by over 13 percent (not counting cases related to Covid-19). 

Even based on pre-Dobbs CDC data, there are counterexamples of abortions rising alongside a spike in maternal mortality. For example, 2019 saw an increase of 31,000 abortions over the previous year paired with a nearly 13% increase in maternal mortality. Likewise, in 2020, maternal mortality spiked by another 17% in a year that saw 14,000 more abortions than the year prior. 

“No logical correlation can be made with increasing abortion numbers and decreasing maternal mortality, especially when considering El Salvador, Poland, and Nicaragua, which all enacted abortion restrictions and have seen their maternal mortality improve afterwards,” Dr. Skop added.

“South Africa, on the other hand, has seen maternal mortality worsen after the legalization of abortion. Clearly abortion limitations, which are in place in many states and all allow exceptions to protect the life of the mother, have not caused maternal mortality to increase.”

The bottom-line on maternal mortality

While the latest data on maternal mortality may not have any correlation to abortion, it does mark a significant improvement in the wellbeing of mothers in the United States. The U.S. has long struggled to shake off its status as having the highest maternal mortality rate among high-income countries, despite spending the most on health care. Though the dip from a rate of 22.3 percent to one of 18.6 percent does not greatly change the United States’ rankings on the world stage, the shift of 3.7 percentage points remains a drastic improvement. In addition, new research has shown that the maternal mortality rate in the U.S. is likely to have been significantly overestimated for approximately two decades due to a simple clerical change in documentation.

The selective reporting of news that bodes negatively for the pro-life movement, ignoring significant developments that contradict anti-life arguments, is troubling.

Though the United States still has significant progress to make in improving health outcomes for pregnant and postpartum mothers, there is no evidence that abortion is the solution to America’s maternal mortality crisis.

Editor’s Note: Special thanks to Live Action researcher Carole Novielli for her assistance with this article.