The Deadly Result of Abortion Bans: Human Suffering and Lives Lost

Content Warning: These stories are tragic and, in some cases, include graphic accounts of people losing their lives because of abortion bans.

When anti-abortion extremists ban abortion, people don’t just lose access—they face real harm. Patients are currently navigating dangerous laws and restrictions that endanger their lives and well-being.

The results are tragic, and often preventable. From heartbreaking delays in emergency care to lives forever altered by denied treatments, abortion bans lead to traumatic experiences, devastating long-term health outcomes, and tragic, preventable death.

Abortion bans hurt everyone. People are dying.

These stories remind us that behind every policy, there are families, health professionals, and communities impacted by Trump and the Republican Party’s abortion bans.

We’ll never know the full scope of harm—how many people have suffered, been traumatized, or died—because abortion bans create silence, fear, and shame.

Watchdog agencies are being silenced, too. In Georgia, two mothers—Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller—died preventable deaths under the state’s abortion ban. After their stories made national news, state officials dismissed the entire Maternal Mortality Review Committee and refused to name their replacements. It’s a disturbing pattern: ban care, ignore the consequences, and eliminate the oversight.

People who suffer most are those already facing systemic racism and barriers to care particularly those who are Black, brown, low-income, disabled, undocumented, young, or living in rural communities.

There is hope and power in collective action.

These stories show the real and devastating effects of anti-abortion extremists’ harmful policies.

We must hold lawmakers accountable to ensure every person’s right to safe, compassionate care for all, free from political interference.

Share these stories, raise your voice, and help us build a better future.

Trauma caused by delayed or denied emergency abortion care

• Anya Cook had a pregnancy complication that put her life at risk—but because of an extreme abortion ban in her state, doctors could not give her the care she needed. “The doctor said… ‘if I intervene, I could possibly be arrested’… Getting pregnant now feels like a death sentence.”
• Shanae Smith-Cunningham needed an emergency abortion for a nonviable pregnancy—but Florida’s laws meant doctors couldn’t help her. They advised her to travel to New York for the care she needed. “They are playing with people’s lives with this law.”
• Nicole Blackmon was told her pregnancy wasn’t viable and was potentially fatal. She was forced to continue the pregnancy due to Tennessee’s abortion ban. “I was condemned to endure both physical and emotional torture, knowing that I was going to deliver a stillborn. How can Tennessee politicians stand by while this happens to people like me?”

So, what can you do?

There’s nothing we do to bring back the lives that were lost. No policy change or action will ever make things right for the families who’ve suffered devastating harm.

What we can do is share their stories to honor their lives—and to fuel a movement that ensures no one else has to suffer the same fate. Consider sharing these stories, so more people understand what’s at stake.