The study analyzed the outcomes of 7.3 million pregnancies of women eligible for Medicaid who were over the age of 13 between the years of 1999 and 2014. The pregnancies analyzed were in 17 states which allow state taxes to fund abortions.
The study found that women who abort their first pregnancy are more likely to have abortions during their next pregnancy than women who give birth to their first pregnancy or experience a miscarriage. The study also found that the likelihood that a woman will have an abortion during their next pregnancy increases with each subsequent abortion they have. The study noted that this trend was particularly prominent among black mothers who aborted their first children.
The authors wrote, “low-income women who have abortions are more likely to have more overall pregnancies, including more subsequent abortions, [and this] would tend to support the body of evidence indicating that abortion is associated with greater subsequent reproductive health risks.”
The researchers also wrote, “The hope that easier access to abortion would decrease maternal mortality has been rebutted by evidence to the contrary.”
