According to researchers, there were an estimated 478 infant deaths across 14 states with bans or heavy restrictions after six weeks of pregnancy – which they say would not have occurred had they not been not in place.

Alison Gemmill, co-leader of the study, said “restrictive abortion policies” could be “reversing decades of progress” in reducing infant deaths across the US.

In its 2022 ruling, the US Supreme Court reversed its 50-year-old Roe v Wade decision which had protected a woman’s constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy up until the point of foetal viability, around the 24th week.

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The study, published this week by researchers from the John Hopkin’s Bloomberg School of Public Health, found an increase in mortality rates for babies born with congenital issues, as well as among groups where death rates already were higher than average.

This included Black infants, as well as for babies whose parents were unmarried, younger, did not attend college, and for those living in southern states.

As of January 2025, 17 states have outlawed nearly all abortions, though some have narrow exceptions for cases of rape, incest or the health of the mother.

States with a total ban include Idaho, Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia.

Florida, Georgia, Iowa and South Carolina ban the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy.

Meanwhile, there are bans in place in Nebraska and North Carolina for procedures after 12 weeks, while it is 18 weeks in Utah.

Congenital malformations

In the states which opted to enact the new laws, infant mortality rates increased to 6.26 per 1,000 live births, compared with an expected rate of 5.93 per 1,000 – a relative increase of 5.6%.

The study also found an increase in the number of infant deaths from congenital anomalies, rising from an expected 1.24 per 1,000 live births to 1.37 per 1,000 – a relative increase of 10.87%.

Mortality from other causes rose to 4.89 per 1,000 from an expected 4.69, a 4.23% increase.

Among non-Hispanic Black infants, there were 11.81 deaths per 1,000 live births after the bans, compared to an expected rate of 10.66 per 1,000, an increase of nearly 11%.

According to the research, the increase in infant mortality due to congenital malformations was consistent with women being denied abortions for non-viable pregnancies – where a pregnancy cannot possibly result in a liveborn baby.

But the increase due to non-congenital causes “is less straightforward”, researchers say.

The study also found the ban may be disproportionately impacting disadvantaged populations who are already at a higher risk of infant mortality as well as delays in receiving medical care.

Separate research from John Hopkin’s Bloomberg School of Public Health found that abortion bans were also linked to increased fertility rates.

Following the overturning of Roe v Wade, which returned control over the procedure back to individual states, researchers found that the number of births per 1,000 reproductive-aged females in affected states rose by 1.7%, or 22,180.

The estimated differences in fertility were largest in states with among the “worst maternal and child health outcomes”, the research suggested.

The pardons were part of a round of executive orders signed by Trump on Thursday, one of several in the first week of his presidency.

Trump described the convictions as “ridiculous”, but abortion rights campaigners said the move was evidence of his opposition to abortion access.

The orders came a day before anti-abortion protesters were due to come to Washington DC for the annual March for Life, which the president is due to address by videolink.

In 2020, Trump became the first sitting president to attend the rally in person, though George W Bush and Ronald Reagan have also addressed it remotely.

Vice President J D Vance will attend in person this time.

The rally has been held in the US capital every year since 1974, a year after abortion was legalised by the Supreme Court in Roe v Wade.

Abortion rights have been a key issue in recent presidential races and the court overturned the ruling in 2022.

Signing the pardons, Trump said of the activists: “They should not have been prosecuted. Many of them are elderly people… This is a great honour to sign this. They’ll be very happy.”

US media report that one of those pardoned is Lauren Handy, leader of the group Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU).

The group was convicted of conspiring in 2020 to storm a Washington reproductive health clinic and block access to intimidate patients and staff. Members forced their way into the Surgi-Clinic, injuring a nurse, and spent several hours inside.

Handy was found guilty in August 2023 and sentenced in May 2024.

Her supporters have hailed the pardons, saying that the convictions were political.

The president of Susan B Anthony Pro-Life America, Marjorie Dannenfelser, said the protesters were targeted by Joe Biden’s Department of Justice and she thanked Trump for “immediately delivering on his promise” to pardon them.

But abortion rights activists said the pardons confirmed their belief that Trump was anti-abortion, despite him declaring during his presidential campaign that it was up to individual states to decide whether to allow the practice.

Ryan Stitzlein of the national abortion rights organisation Reproductive Freedom for All told AP news agency: “Donald Trump on the campaign trail tried to have it both ways – bragging about his role in overturning Roe v Wade while saying he wasn’t going to take action on abortion.

“We never believed that that was true, and this shows us that we were right.”