Roe Rockenings: SO PRO-LIFE THEY’LL KILL YOU

If you thought the post-Roe anti-abortion movement was a unified front, think again (Mother Jones). The battle over abortion rights has escalated into an internal war, with extremists pushing for even more brutal restrictions. If you can get pregnant, you are a target. 

The Fractures Within the Anti-Abortion Movement

Hardline extremists are pushing for even more draconian laws, criminalising abortion as homicide and calling for women and doctors to face the death penalty.

Kristan Hawkins, leader of Students for Life of America, openly admits that her biggest fear isn’t pro-choice activists—it’s the radical “abolitionists” within her own movement. These zealots reject all compromise, branding any existing bans as weak. They won’t stop until pregnant people are forced to give birth under any circumstances, even if it kills them.

These aren’t just online radicals; they are taking real action. They’ve stormed statehouses, threatened politicians and pushed for harsher laws. 

Texas Banned Abortion—And Women Are Paying the Price

Abortion bans are a death sentence. ProPublica’s investigation into maternal health in Texas found that when doctors refuse care out of fear, women suffer—and some die (ProPublica, 2025 )

Since Texas enacted its abortion ban in 2021, cases of sepsis during second-trimester pregnancy loss have soared over 50%. Doctors delay life-saving treatment until it’s too late. Some women survive with lifelong health complications. Others don’t make it at all.

The risk of septic shock—a severe form of sepsis leading to organ failure—has jumped 75%. Texas refuses to acknowledge these deaths, but ProPublica’s analysis of hospital records revealed at least 120 maternal deaths in 2022-2023—dozens more than before the ban.

Mortality Rises in US States with Abortion Bans

Abortion bans don’t just endanger pregnant people—they’re killing infants too. A new study found that 478 infant deaths across 14 states with bans could have been prevented. (BBC,).

Since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, states have imposed cruel restrictions, undoing decades of progress in reducing infant mortality. Study co-leader Alison Gemmill warned that these policies are driving the numbers in the wrong direction.

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health study shows the most vulnerable infants are hit hardest. States with the strictest bans, including Texas, Alabama and Kentucky, are seeing the worst outcomes.

Doctors are fleeing these states, unwilling to practice where they cannot provide care without fear of prosecution. “Texans and their babies suffer,” said Sarah Corning of the ACLU.

Forced Birth, More Dead Babies

In states with abortion bans, infant mortality has spiked 5.6%. Deaths from congenital anomalies have surged nearly 11%. Among Black infants, the mortality rate has jumped 11%, from 10.66 to 11.81 per 1,000.

Researchers link these deaths to bans forcing women to carry non-viable pregnancies to term—delivering babies who have no chance of survival. Vulnerable communities suffer the most, widening existing health disparities.

“These laws force families to endure stillbirths or watch their newborns die,” Corning said. “It’s cruelty, plain and simple.”

Johns Hopkins researchers also found that abortion bans are driving up birth rates. Since Roe was overturned, the number of births per 1,000 reproductive-aged women rose 1.7%, or 22,180 additional births—primarily in states with the worst maternal and infant health outcomes.

The truth is undeniable: abortion bans are not about life. They are about control. And they are killing women and children.

Make no mistake: if the government isn’t sentencing women to death for seeking an abortion, their policies are still killing them. In states with extreme abortion bans, maternal mortality rates are rising while the national average declines. Texas is just the most visible example—similar patterns are emerging in other states enforcing draconian restrictions.

Meanwhile, the most extreme anti-abortion activists argue that these laws still don’t go far enough. They ignore the stark reality that states enforcing total abortion bans are experiencing unprecedented spikes in pregnancy-related deaths, with some rural hospitals reporting a 40% increase in life-threatening obstetric emergencies. They want harsher punishments, zero exceptions, and criminalisation of not just providers but patients as well. And as we’ve seen, they’re willing to turn on their own movement to get there.

This is no longer about ideological debates—it’s about survival. It’s about who has control over their bodies, who has basic human rights, and who will be forced into a nightmare of state-enforced pregnancy and preventable death.

The opposition to abortion rights in the US is becoming more extreme, more violent and more determined to enforce their vision of forced birth through any means necessary. The only way to stop them is to fight back—at the ballot box, in the courts, and in the streets.