State abortion bans bar exceptions for suicide, mental health - Roll Call

In the year since the Supreme Court outlawed the national right to an abortion, 18 states have implemented abortion bans that specify that mental health or suicidality do not qualify as a health-related exception for the woman — a deviation that’s occurring despite growing national momentum to treat physical and mental health equally. 

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death among women of reproductive age. Nearly 23 percent of pregnancy-related deaths are attributed to mental health conditions, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“These are the conditions that are killing women and the absolute greatest risk factors for them are mental health conditions like depression and substance use disorders,” said Constance Guille, founder and director of the Women’s Reproductive Behavioral Health Division at the Medical University of South Carolina. “So these conditions are absolutely just as deadly as many other conditions in medicine.”