Understanding Pregnancy Loss in the Context of Abortion Restrictions and Fetal Harm Laws
Issue Brief
A miscarriage can often be mistaken for a late period, so individuals may be unaware they have miscarried.
Examples of infections that can cause stillbirths include parvovirus, listeria, syphilis and cytomegalovirus (CMV).
KFF’s Fact Sheet on Medication Abortion describes REMS in more detail.
SIA Legal Team merged with If/When/How in March 2019, now known as If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice.
NY recently repealed criminal prohibition on self-managed abortion.
The charges in this case were later dropped.
For women with opioid use disorders in pregnancy, the medical standard of care is to continue their methadone or buprenorphine therapy at their usual dose during pregnancy. Case reports suggest opioid withdrawal may actually increase risk of miscarriage and stillbirths as compared to maintenance therapy, although the evidence is mixed.
Studies on alcohol and pregnancy loss have mixed results. A meta-analysis of 24 studies (>230,000 women) showed an increased risk of miscarriage in alcohol users while another meta-analysis of 46 studies found no significant effects of low-moderate prenatal alcohol exposure on miscarriage or stillbirth. Despite this, significant evidence shows alcohol dependence in pregnancy can lead to fetal alcohol syndrome, which can cause facial abnormalities, behavioral issues and learning disabilities.
The majority of research on cocaine and pregnancy loss comes from the 1980s and early 1990s, at the height of the crack epidemic in the U.S. Many studies evaluate cocaine’s effect on growth restriction, preterm birth and placental abruption, but do not explicitly measure miscarriage or stillbirth rates.