US abortion restrictions led to an 11% increase in children placed in foster care, study finds

Restrictions on abortion access in the US in the past 20 years led to an 11% increase in children placed in foster care, a study in JAMA Paediatrics has found.1

Some 4 179 101 US children were placed in foster care—23% of them in states with a law limiting abortion access. The study analysed state and federal data for 2000-2020, before the constitutional right to abortion was overturned.

Abortion access can have far reaching consequences for children, families, the foster care system, and the economy, said the researchers from Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts; Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston; and Harvard Medical School, Boston.

In a comment to accompany the study,3 Tracey Wilkinson and Caitlin Bernard of Indiana …