United States | News & Politics

Abortion bans don't just kill women. They kill babies. This is evident in the data, which shows a dramatic rise in the state's infant mortality after Texas banned abortion. As the Washington Post documented last week, it's also happening in a viscerally disturbing way, as the number of newborns found abandoned to die has spiked, as well. Babies, mostly dead, are being found in ditches and dumpsters throughout Texas, traumatizing the people who find them and the emergency workers who are called to help.

Only the biggest liars in the anti-choice movement — and to be fair, there's stiff competition for that award — would deny that the state's abortion ban is the main cause of the sharp increase in dead, abandoned babies. The Washington Post also notes that Republicans have repeatedly cut funding for prenatal care and family planning services. In addition, draconian approaches to illegal immigration have led to undocumented women avoiding medical care, for fear of being deported. The result is what one Texas law enforcement official called "a little bit of an epidemic" of infant abandonment.