(National Review) Last month, The University of Houston’s Institute for Research on Women, Gender, and Sexuality released a report in the Texas Heartbeat Act. It found that the Texas fertility rate increased by 2 percentage points by 2022, in large part due to the Heartbeat Act. This is the first increase in the Lone Star State’s fertility rate since 2014. The report was covered by a range of mainstream media outlets including NBC News, the hill, Axiosand the Texas Tribune.
Breaking down the numbers: The Heartbeat Act resulted in nearly 8,000 more children being born in Texas in 2022. Since, the Texas Heartbeat Act went into effect on September 1, 2021, it will not have a significant impact on the Texas fertility rate until March or April 2022. Because of that, this search is in line with my November 2022 Lozier Institute study and with June 2023 Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) study. Both found that the Texas Heartbeat Act resulted in about 1,000 more children being born each month.
The coverage of this report is disappointing. There is much discussion about the increase in fertility but few mention that thousands of innocent lives have been saved. Furthermore, media outlets reported that the Texas teen fertility rate had increased in 2022. Although this occurred, both outlets neglected to note that this report shows a 35.7 percent decrease in Texas teen-fertility rate since 2016.
Overall, the Lone Star State has seen impressive long-term reductions in teen pregnancy, teen births, and teen abortions.
This University of Houston report adds to an impressive body of research showing that recently enacted pro-life laws have saved lives. In addition to Texas data reviews, a November 2023 report of the Institute for Labor Economics in Germany found that there were increases in birth rates in other states that enacted pro-life laws afterDobbs. Many mainstream media outlets continue to underestimate the impact of pro-life laws. However, a large body of research from the United States and abroad clearly shows that legal protections for preborn children reduce abortion rates and save lives.
DOJ puts a pro-life grandmother in jail for protesting the killing of preborn children. Please take 30 seconds to TELL CONGRESS: STOP DOJ FROM TARGETING PRO-LIFE AMERICANS.
