CNN accused of being 'disappointed' Texas heartbeat law led to births of 10,000 babies

Conservatives slammed a CNN.com article Thursday reporting on how a "strict abortion law" in Texas has led to "10,000 more births than expected."

Critics accused the news outlet of being "disappointed" that thousands more children were born thanks to the pro-life law that was passed in the state in 2021.

The article detailed research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association estimating that the Texas "heartbeat bill" has resulted in the births of nearly 10,000 more babies than would otherwise have been expected.

The piece stated, "Texas Senate Bill 8, which banned abortions after six weeks of pregnancy with few exceptions, took effect nearly 10 months before the US Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade and revoked the federal right to abortion."

ABORTIONIST DECLARES THAT ITS OUR 'ETHICAL DUTY' TO SHARE 'EXTRAORDINARY STORIES' ABOUT ABORTION

A recent CNN article noted that 10,000 more births occurred than usual in Texas since the state passed its "heartbeat bill."  (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health researchers conducted the study, analyzing "years of birth records to understand how the state law may have affected local trends."

"They found that from April to December 2022, the first months that would have reflected the effects of the policy change, there were about 297,000 total births: about 3% more than the 287,000 births that would have been expected without the law," CNN.com reported. 

The article also cited Johns Hopkins University assistant professor and co-author of the research paper, Suzanne Bell, who made a candid admission that the number of pregnancies was higher than she had hoped, and that the results revealed that women were "forced" to have pregnancies because of the law. 

"At first blush, seeing the number was higher than I might have anticipated or hoped it might be," she said, adding, "But our results suggest that not everyone was able to overcome those barriers [to abortion], and many were forced an unwanted or unsafe pregnancy to term."

ABORTIONIST DECLARES THAT ITS OUR 'ETHICAL DUTY' TO SHARE 'EXTRAORDINARY STORIES' ABOUT ABORTION

The Johns Hopkins researcher who analyzed how many more births Texas had since passing a major pro-life bill in 2021 claimed her numbers meant women were "forced" to have "unwanted" pregnancies.  (Jon Cherry/Getty Images)

Several prominent conservatives, pro-lifers and pro-life groups trashed the piece on Twitter shortly after it was published. 

Students for Life of America tweeted, "10,000 babies born, zero women died, but pro-abortion CNN is disappointed. Yikes."

Pro-life activist Brady Gray tweeted what he thought the headline should be. He wrote, "Alternate headline: ‘New Texas law saves nearly 10,000 lives in the last 9 months of 2022.’"

Conservative author Carmine Sabia gave his impression of CNN’s headline, stating, "CNN is disappointed that 10,000 babies lived."

"’More births than expected’? Expected by whom? The only people surprised are the ones who believed the myth that abortion restrictions don't decrease abortions," Secular Pro-Life's account wrote.

The account for pro-life organization Live Action tweeted, "But, but, but... We've been reliably told by CNN time and time again that abortion bans have zero impact on saving babies from abortion."

The Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon said, "CNN is mourning the birth of thousands of babies."

"Such a dumb headline. My God these people are ghouls," conservative radio host Joe Pagliarulo declared.

And Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton added, "God bless Texas! Let's give thanks for those 10,000 precious ones!"

Gabriel Hays is an associate editor for Fox News Digital.