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Physicians are concerned for maternal health care if Roe is overturned

The 1971 Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion in the United States.
Michigan Radio
The 1971 Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion in the United States.

If abortion is criminalized in Michigan, Black women would bear the biggest cost.

That's according to Dr. Lisa Harris, an OBGYN and professor at the University of Michigan.

Harris says birth rates in the state would likely rise anywhere from 10 to 20 percent from unwanted pregnancies that were carried to term.

She says maternal mortality rates would likely go up across the board, and for Black women they could increase by as much as 33-percent.

"A Black woman is about two and a half times more likely to die in the setting of childbirth than a white woman. And it's going to be come an even more urgent need to address this, in the wake of an abortion ban."

Harris was a guest on Michigan Radio's Stateside.