Texas abortion ban tied to mental health declines
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Texas' abortion ban is linked to increased mental health concerns among women of reproductive age, a new study found.
Why it matters: Texas is the epicenter of the country's battle over abortion rights. Knowing whether abortion restrictions impact mental health can help guide the policy response, per the study in JAMA Network Open, published by the American Medical Association.
By the numbers: Compared with men, women in Texas experienced a nearly 7 percentage point increase in frequent mental distress associated with the state's severe abortion restrictions beginning in 2021, per the study.
- Texas women experienced frequent mental distress at an increase of 5.3 percentage points compared to women in other states that had not yet approved abortion restrictions.
The study defined frequent mental distress as 14 or more days of poor mental health during the previous 30 days.
Context: JAMA looked at changes following restrictions that took effect in September 2021 banning abortions at about six weeks, then one of the most restrictive state abortion laws in the nation.
- Texas later prohibited most abortions in 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Zoom in: The rate of sepsis and pregnancy-related deaths in Texas rose after 2021, a ProPublica investigation found earlier this year.
- "It's already scary to decide to become pregnant … If something medically complex happened, you could lose your life," Dr. Emily Briggs, who practices family medicine in Central Texas, told CBS News last year.
- Gov. Greg Abbott last weekend signed into law a bill that seeks to clarify exceptions to the abortion ban, but some critics said it doesn't go far enough to protect women facing pregnancy-related medical emergencies.
How it works: Public health professor Jusung Lee from the University of Texas at San Antonio led the study. It analyzed data from a survey of 15,614 Texas women, 14,500 Texas men and 49,495 women in other states between 2012 and 2022.
Between the lines: Mental distress was higher among younger people who might have fewer resources to access abortion care out-of-state, per the study.
- Younger age groups are also more likely to experience an unwanted pregnancy.
The bottom line: "Because Texas banned abortion earlier than other states, the Texas experience provides much of what is known about the consequences of abortion bans on health," the study states.