No, Pro-Life Laws Are Not Increasing Ectopic Pregnancy Deaths
This Wednesday, ProPublica ran an article blaming recently enacted pro-life laws for an increase in ectopic pregnancy deaths.
They claim that the ectopic pregnancy death rate has more than doubled since 2014. Additionally, the article provides data which purportedly shows a greater ectopic pregnancy death rate increase in states with strict abortion bans. This article received a large amount of online attention. It was reposted by CNN and has been covered by a number of news outlets including Medical Daily and Scripps Howard.
Not surprisingly, there is much less here than meets the eye. First the CDC does not publicly release data on ectopic pregnancy deaths. As such, we cannot verify the accuracy of the data in the ProPublica article. Secondly, data on low probability events, like ectopic pregnancy deaths, can easily be distorted by a few outliers. That might be the case here. Indeed, the data presented in the ProPublica article indicate that as of 2025, there are fewer than ten ectopic pregnancy deaths for every million live births. ---More...
Planned Parenthood Killed a Woman in Botched Abortion, It Was Never Held Accountable
In early August, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey signed into law expansion of abortion from 24 weeks through the entire pregnancy. While many celebrated, Colorado serves as a staunch warning of the unintended consequences of unrestricted, unregulated abortion.
Whether pro-life or pro-choice, Coloradans agree women deserve high-quality, safe, compassionate care. Colorado voters mistakenly believed a constitutional right to abortion would protect women’s health and safety. Most Coloradans believe late abortions are safe and erroneously assume state abortion facilities are licensed and held to appropriate safety standards.
I know from my prior experience performing second-trimester abortions how risky these procedures are. In fact, late abortions — those in the second and third trimester — can be extremely dangerous for women and girls. Late abortion grows more dangerous every day a woman’s pregnancy progresses — the risk of dying increases exponentially 38% per week after eight weeks’ gestation. Second-trimester procedural abortions carry a 1 in 10 risk of significant complications. By 18 weeks, the risk of death is twice that of natural childbirth. Late abortion requires invasive surgeries to remove the developing baby, which can be life-threatening. Inherent risk is multiplied without oversight. Late abortion does not remove risks for women, it increases them. ---More...