Abortion restrictions in US will be deadly, warn experts

The Independent’s new film hailed as incredibly powerful’

- BEL TREW

Healthcare advocates have warned of the deadly impact of nationwide restrictions on abortion, amid concerns that the Trump administration will criminalise the distribution of medical equipment used in the procedure and roll back access to abortion pills by mail.

Speaking at the New York screening of The A-Word, The Independent’s new documentary on abortion, leading reproductive rights lawyers and healthcare providers described the far-reaching repercussions of wider restrictions expected to be imposed under incoming president Donald Trump. These could have an impact on doctors, hospitals, emergency rooms, and miscarriage care, they explained.

They also highlighted the difficulty of tracking the deadly impact of these restrictions, due to a lack of data on maternal mortality rates. Since the 2022 Dobbs v Jackson decision ended the national right to abortion, some states have disbanded their maternal mortality review committees, the experts said. Others, like Texas, have reportedly ruled that they will “skip” collecting data from 2022 to 2024.

“We are very concerned about what is going to happen. We fear the administrative rules the incoming administration and state legislatures may enact,” said Linda Goldstein, senior counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights, an award-winning global legal advocacy organisation that has filed dozens of lawsuits challenging abortion bans across the country.

Speaking after the screening of the film, which she described as offering a vital and “holistic” look at the issue, Ms Goldstein pointed out that while the president-elect has repeatedly stated that he would not impose a federal abortion ban, other legislative measures could have a similar effect. Mr Trump has previously said it should be “up to the states” to decide on restrictions, though his incoming vice-president, JD Vance, has said in the past that he was open to a federal ban.