This Wednesday, ProPublica ran an article blaming recently enacted pro-life laws for an increase in ectopic pregnancy deaths.
They claim that the ectopic pregnancy death rate has more than doubled since 2014. Additionally, the article provides data which purportedly shows a greater ectopic pregnancy death rate increase in states with strict abortion bans. This article received a large amount of online attention. It was reposted by CNN and has been covered by a number of news outlets including Medical Daily and Scripps Howard.
Not surprisingly, there is much less here than meets the eye. First the CDC does not publicly release data on ectopic pregnancy deaths. As such, we cannot verify the accuracy of the data in the ProPublica article. Secondly, data on low probability events, like ectopic pregnancy deaths, can easily be distorted by a few outliers. That might be the case here. Indeed, the data presented in the ProPublica article indicate that as of 2025, there are fewer than ten ectopic pregnancy deaths for every million live births.
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Most importantly, the data presented fail to provide any evidence that pro-life laws are in any way responsible for this reported increase in ectopic pregnancy deaths. In fact, no state pro-life law prevents treatment for ectopic pregnancies.
In fact, a far more likely culprit for the ectopic pregnancy death rate is the sharp increase in telehealth abortions. That is because if a woman obtains a chemical abortion without an in-person medical exam, a potential ectopic pregnancy will go undiagnosed. Furthermore, during the testing of mifepristone in the 1980s, it was established that mifepristone does not induce abortion of ectopic pregnancies. As such, the prevalence of telehealth abortions places women with ectopic pregnancies at risk.
ProPublica dismisses this by stating, “Ectopic rates are far lower among people who seek medication abortion.” They also claim that telehealth clinics “ask questions that filter out patients at higher risk of ectopic pregnancy and follow up with those they treat to screen for symptoms.” However, a recent Charlotte Lozier Institute analysis shows that entities that provide telehealth abortions are largely unregulated and will send chemical abortion drugs to nearly anyone.
More importantly, the latest data indicate that about 28 percent of all abortions take place via telehealth. That represents over 300,000 missed opportunities to properly diagnose an ectopic pregnancy. That could easily explain the reported increase in ectopic pregnancy deaths.
Blaming pro-life laws for bad health outcomes has become a cottage industry among journalists who support legal abortion. However, they have not found much.
In fact, a prominent supporter of legal abortion recently admitted that pro-life laws were not causing maternal mortality increases and that OBGYNs were not departing pro-life states. It is sad, but not surprising, that the media amplifies research claiming pro-life laws hurt women while turning a blind eye to the real health risks caused by the sharp increase in unregulated telehealth abortions.
LifeNews.com Note: Dr. Michael New is a professor at Ave Maria University. He is a former political science professor at the University of Michigan–Dearborn and holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University. He is a fellow at Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, New Jersey.
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