Background: Restrictive policies on termination of pregnancy (TOP) may lead to more infants with congenital abnormalities. This study aims to assess the association between state-wide enactment of TOP restriction and cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) incidence and identify mediating demographic characteristics.
Methods: This study examines state-specific trends in CL/P incidence in infants before and after implementing laws restricting TOP in MI compared to NY, where no such laws were passed. The percent change of CL/P incidence per 1000 live births in post-policy years (2012-2015) compared to pre-policy years (2005-2011) was compared while adjusting for confounding factors in multivariate models.
Results: The incidence of CL/P changed significantly in MI (19.1%) versus NY (-7.31%). Adjusting for sex, race/ethnicity, median household income level, and expected payer revealed that the adjusted percent difference between MI and NY was 53.3% (p <0.001). Stratification by race/ethnicity and median household income demonstrated that changes were only significant amongst Black (139%, p<0.001) and Hispanic (125%, p=0.045) patients or of those from the lowest (50.3%, p<0.001) and second lowest (40.1%, p=0.01) income quartiles.
Conclusions: Our research, combined with the recent Dobbs Supreme Court decision allowing states to place further restrictions on TOP, suggests that more infants in the future will be born in need of treatment for CL/P.
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