Study: Pregnant women who don’t wear seatbelt more likely to lose baby in crash

Syracuse (WSYR-TV) -- Despite some women's worry that seat belts or air bags could harm a baby in-utero in the event of an accident, a new study finds that pregnant women who aren’t buckled in during a crash are much more likely to lose the baby than those wearing a seatbelt.

The study looked through a trauma registry at Duke University Hospital and found 126 cases of women in their second and third trimesters who had been in a car crash.

Of the 86 women who were wearing a seatbelt, three lost their babies. Out of 12 mothers who weren’t bucked in, three lost their babies. That’s a rate of 3.5 percent for women with seatbelts and 25 percent for those that weren’t buckled in.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that seat belts should be worn at all times, and the lap belt should be fitted low across the hip bones, below the belly.