Dear AJPM Reader,

A recently leaked draft of a Supreme Court opinion suggests that the court soon will overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that has enshrined abortion access as a legal right in the U.S. for the last half-century. Should this happen, abortion would be almost immediately banned or severely restricted based on previously enacted laws in about half of all states, which are home to almost 60% of American women of reproductive age.

Abortion is a public health issue, and the Court’s apparent intention to strike down Roe v. Wade runs directly counter to substantial evidence from public health and preventive medicine researchers regarding the considerable health benefits associated with access to abortion and other important reproductive health services. Several recently published articles in AJPM highlight the association between abortion and health benefits, including a study by Ellison and colleagues which found that living further from a family planning clinic was associated with not receiving needed care among young, low-income women. The authors point out that abortion providers are often safety net providers of clinical preventive services, suggesting that this ruling could harm the broader health of vulnerable populations in addition to its direct effects on reproductive health.

Other studies document the impact of abortion restrictions on infant health outcomes. Karletsos and colleagues, for example, found that infant mortality rates increased in states after they restricted the gestational age at which a woman could receive an abortion. Another study, by Sudhinaraset and colleagues, showed that women, especially Black women, were less likely to have low birth weight babies if they lived in states with fewer reproductive rights restrictions, including limitations on abortion services.

In an article published last year in AJPM, Tomlinson detailed the expansion of laws limiting medical abortions over the past two decades, which are often the most preferred form of abortion as they are least invasive and considered clinically very safe. The loss of abortion access with the abolishment of Roe v. Wade will assuredly result in negative health effects for U.S. women, both known and yet unknown, for many years to come while also reversing 50 years of legal precedent and public health progress in assuring reproductive freedom for U.S. women. 

We hope you find these articles, as well as our May 2022 issue, to be timely, topical, and informative.

Yours in prevention and health,