Abortion Bans: Slavery 2.0

No Food, No Education, No Housing — Have Your Baby Here! Or Else!!

I usually write about music or British mysteries, occasionally delving lightly into current events. All these require some level of research and reason, but rarely do I use the deep-dive grad school skills I learned in full force to analyze political issues of the day. It’s often just too depressing. But when some idea begins to bug me, to get under my skin, I’ve got to know. And knowing means looking up stuff.

You’ll hear lots of people these days saying “I did my own research.” And what they typically seem to mean is that they googled for a few seconds until they found a view that validated their preconceived biases. They call that “research.” It’s not.

As a trained scholar with several deeply researched articles published in international peer-reviewed journals, and as a professor who has taught scores of students how to do valid research, I know what research is and isn’t. I decided to apply my skills to vital Constitutional ideals concerning the unconscionable denial of personal life and liberty to a significant portion of our US population: abortion bans. The last time such a denial of liberty by a hefty portion of states poisoned our nation occurred during the slavery era. Is there a link? Perhaps it’s time for some real research. I’ve got to know.

Image from The New York Times (January 8, 2024)

Just as a light-speed refresher course on the scientific method, the steps are:

1. Define a question
2. Make predictions
3. Gather data
4. Analyze data
5. Draw conclusions

So, here we go.

Define a question: Good research starts with a fact, like “Several states are banning abortions.” That leads to an idea, a question, like “Are there common traits among the states banning abortions?” Generally, there’s a reason for the question, like “Why are these states banning abortions?” Good research requires the researcher to be ready to accept and assert the truth, whatever it may be because we learn even when we’re wrong.

Make predictions: Then you move to a prediction, more commonly known as a hypothesis, you pose a possible answer to the question, like “It seems as if the states banning abortions are the most conservative, most impoverished, least well-educated, in other words, ‘red’ states. Is that true?” Remember, there’s got to be at least some evidence before a hypothesis can be presented. That means the investigation into reasons to impeach President Biden is bogus because there’s no evidence on which to base the hypothesis that he has committed impeachable acts. Republican members of Congress admit they have no evidence, but they want to find some, so they’re looking for it, but they have not yet found any, except from sources who admit they’re lying. Bogus.

Gather data: Your plan of action is then to look at possible issues such states might have in common, to gather data from reputable sources. Reputable sources are those who — as my high school math teachers required — show their work. They clearly display their methods of acquiring information, including any flaws they perceive in their systems. They have a history of trustworthy information gathering. Mostly you want primary sources, that is, sources that gather the data themselves, but sometimes with complex data, a solid secondary source, like a good science writer for a major publication, can help explain the information in a more digestible form. Additionally, the researcher must not rely on one source alone. A minimum of two, preferably three, is absolutely necessary.

For my question, beyond the overly simplistic red state/blue state dichotomy, I chose to examine rates of domestic violence, infant mortality, maternal mortality, childhood poverty, and education. Initially, I had planned to include rape kit backlogs, but there was insufficient data because some states either refused point-blank to fill out the surveys, denied any backlogs, or simply didn’t fill out the survey but gave no reason.

CDC map of infant mortality rates (2018)

My sources included both governmental and independent entities. Among them are the US Census, US News and World Report, World Population Review, US, Centers for Disease Control, and the United Nations Report on Violence Against Women.

Analyze data: Here’s what I found:

Of the top ten domestic violence states, four have abortion bans

Of the top ten maternal mortality states, six have abortion bans

Of the top ten infant mortality states, six have abortion bans

Of the top ten child poverty states (all over 20%), eight have abortion bans

Of the lowest ten education states, nine have abortion bans

So, with the exception of domestic violence, the majority of states with the worst levels of maternal and infant mortality, education, and child poverty ban abortions, proclaiming themselves to be “pro-life.” But wait, there’s more.

With the exception of Illinois (#8) and Washington State (#9), all the top DV states are red.1

With no exceptions, all ten top maternal mortality states are red.2

With no exceptions, all top ten infant mortality states are red3

With no exceptions, all the lowest ten education states are red.4

With the exception of New Mexico (#3), all the highest child poverty states are red.5

And there’s even more. At least eight of the top ten maternal mortality (exception AZ, IN) and low education (exception IN, NV) states are former slave states. Seven of ten infant mortality states (except AK, OH, IN) are former slave states. All but one (except NM) of the top ten child poverty states are former slave states.

Tulane map of maternal mortality rates (2015)

And though Georgia and North Carolina are trending blue, historically they were deep red and both were slave states.

One other interesting context is the examination of which states fall into more than one category. Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi are all in the top ten for at least four categories. All have abortion bans. These states are, by far, the least hospitable towards women of child-bearing age and their children.

Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine came to the same conclusions that I have — the more abortion restrictions, the higher the maternal mortality rate. That, however, is as far as they went. Time for the next step.

Draw conclusions: What to make of this? This leads to the thesis that abortion bans in “pro-life” states are forcing women to give birth in environments where both the babies and their mothers are least likely to survive and thrive. Preliminary examination also suggests these states have the highest levels of backlogs on rape kit analysis. However, there’s not yet enough information to draw firm conclusions on that topic.

The next step might be the hypothesis that “pro-life” is more about control of women’s bodies as in generations past and perhaps even a sadistic pleasure in punishing those who cannot fight back. This may well correlate with voters suffering from the documented “fear of a black planet” syndrome where “low-information” white males view the inevitable increasing diversification of the American melting pot with horror and loathing. Most states with abortion bans are predominantly rural former slave states with educational and economic levels that have not kept pace with societal and technological progress.

One stunning example: replying to questions about his state’s effectively banning in-vitro fertilization treatments (IVF) Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville, a former college football coach who reportedly doesn’t own a residence in the state, said “We need more children.” This remarkable statement indicates he has no idea what IVF is or that it actually helps would-be parents have more children. It also suggests that his stance in favor of abortion bans is intended, at least in part, to force women to produce more children in a state that is #3 in infant mortality, #4 in maternal mortality, #5 in child poverty, and #7 in lowest educational levels.

Seeds of ignorance and resentment, sown long ago, have since been fertilized with foul-smelling anger, grievance, and dull-wittedness, resulting in hate-fueled violence, of both the legislative and physical varieties. But we have an opportunity to address this more successfully than we as a nation did during post-Civil War Reconstruction when slave states continued to rebel against relinquishing their control over women’s bodies.

Giving into, or trying to mollify the fears of authoritarian insurrectionists whose laws deny, rather than grant, freedom and liberty is not the way. When we did that before, generations of Jim Crow laws stunted progress for decades. In order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, in other words, to preserve our precious democracy, we must understand, and perhaps empathize, with such fears, while firmly addressing the lies, misconceptions, and enmities that have led to the denial of women’s basic liberty to choose how to live and how not to die.

SOURCES

KFF Health News. “Abortion Policy Tracker.” https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/abortion-policy-tracker/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D

KFF. “Maternal Deaths and Mortality Rates per 100,000 Live Births.” https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/maternal-deaths-and-mortality-rates-per-100000-live-births/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. “State-by-State Statistics on Domestic Violence.” https://ncadv.org/state-by-state

National Public Radio. “Maternal Mortality in the U.S. spiked in 2021, CDC reports.” https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/03/16/1163786037/maternal-deaths-in-the-u-s-spiked-in-2021-cdc-reports#:~:text=The%20U.S.%20rate%20for%202021,deaths%20per%20100%2C000%20in%202020.

Parrott, Sharon. “Record Rise in Poverty Highlights Importance of Child Tax Credit.” Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. https://www.cbpp.org/press/statements/record-rise-in-poverty-highlights-importance-of-child-tax-credit-health-coverage

Petrullo, Justina. US Has Highest Infant, Maternal Mortality Rates Despite the Most Health Care Spending.”American Journal of Managed Care. “https://www.ajmc.com/view/us-has-highest-infant-maternal-mortality-rates-despite-the-most-health-care-spending

United Nations. “Facts and figures: Ending violence against women.” https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/facts-and-figures

USA Facts. “How many rape kits are awaiting testing in the US? See the data by state.” https://usafacts.org/articles/how-many-rape-kits-are-awaiting-testing-in-the-us-see-the-data-by-state/

US Census. “U.S. Poverty Rate Varies by Age.” https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/12/poverty-rate-varies-by-age-groups.html

US Centers for Disease Control. “Infant Mortality Rates by State.” https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/infant_mortality_rates/infant_mortality.htm

US News and World Report. “Educational Attainment.” https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/education/higher-education/educational-attainment?sort=rank-desc

Vilda, Dovile, Maeve E. Wallace, Clare Daniel, Melissa Goldin Evans, Charles Stoecker, and Katherine P. Theall, “State Abortion Policies and Maternal Death in the US, 2015–2018.” Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. https://sph.tulane.edu/news/study-finds-higher-maternal-mortality-rates-states-more-abortion-restrictions

World Population Review. “Domestic Violence by State.” https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/domestic-violence-by-state

World Population Review. “Child Poverty Rate by State.” https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/child-poverty-rate-by-state

NOTES:

1Domestic Violence: Kentucky, Nevada, Alaska, Arizona, Indiana, S. Carolina, Missouri, Illinois, Washington, Arkansas

2Maternal Mortality: Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Kentucky, Georgia, S. Carolina, Arizona, Indiana

3Infant Mortality: Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, Alaska, S. Carolina, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Ohio, Indiana, North Carolina

4Low education: West Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Alabama, Nevada, Indiana, Tennessee

5Child poverty: Mississippi. Louisiana, New Mexico, West Virginia, Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas, S. Carolina, Tennessee, Oklahoma