🌅 Pregnancy Is More Dangerous than Abortion

Sunrise Stat
February 24, 2026

Uncover the power of a single statistic: Sign up for Sunrise Stat to find your intellectual clarity.

A new study by researchers at the University of Maryland found the risk of death from pregnancy (defined as occurring during pregnancy or within one year of the end of pregnancy) in the U.S. is 44 to 70 times higher than the risk of death from abortion, around three times higher than a commonly cited estimate which places the risk of death from pregnancy at only around 14 times higher than that of abortion. The present study analyzed data from 2018 to 2021, updating the previous estimate, which was based on data from 1998 to 2005.

The authors say their work shows it is “far more dangerous to be pregnant than to have an abortion,” and the gap in risk is even greater than previously understood. It also underscores the danger of state abortion bans and forcing someone to continue a pregnancy, thereby dramatically increasing their risk of death.

Other research shows mothers living in states that ban abortion are nearly twice as likely to die during or soon after pregnancy or childbirth than mothers living in states where abortion is legal. Beyond maternal mortality risk, research suggests abortion bans also increase infant deaths, reversing decades of progress in the U.S.