Doctors have argued the law is too restrictive toward women who face pregnancy complications, though the state’s Supreme Court last month rejected a case that sought to weaken it.

Infant deaths are relatively rare, Bell said, so the team was a bit surprised by the findings. Because of the small numbers researchers could not parse out the rates for different populations, for example, to see if rates were rising more for certain races or socioeconomic groups.

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But the results did not come as a surprise to Tiffany Green, a University of Wisconsin-Madison economist and population health scientist who studies the consequences of racial inequities on reproductive health. She said the findings were in line with earlier research on racial disparities in infant mortality rates due to state differences in Medicaid funding for abortions. Many of the people getting abortions are vulnerable to pregnancy complications, said Green, who was not part of the research.

Stephen Chasen, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist with Weill Cornell Medicine, said abortion restrictions have other consequences. Chasen, who had no role in the research, said people who carry out pregnancies with fetal anomalies need extra support, education and specialised medical care for the mother and newborn — all of which require resources.

Access to abortion is expected to be a major issue in the motivations for Democratic voters in the November presidential election. Trump has sought to balance his Supreme Court legacy with the fact the vast majority of Americans believe abortion should generally be legal.

AP, Reuters

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