Scott Cokely wrote: >Can someone provide us with statistics about the ratios of >fatalities for childbirth versus abortion? This has come >up a number of times, and it's common wisdom that childbirth >is more dangerous than abortion, but it would be nice to >have some concrete proof. Hi, The attached reply is SO complete that you might find it confusing. So I will give a very short "botton line" result, a sort of "Readers Digest" answer. A study by M. J. Rosenberg and S. M.Rosenthal from the American Journal of Public Health (77 AJPH 833, July 1987) concluded that, for the woman, "abortion is 25 times safer than childbirth". But most critics think that is result is overstated. At least if applied to the USA. For legal abortions in the USA, the overall death rate is less than 1 per 100,000, while the maternal mortality death rate is probably between 7 and 10. This means for a woman who is less than about 13 weeks pregnant, her chances of dying are about 10 times greater if she does NOT have an abortion. THE COMPLETE REPLY: In reading the last set of tables, the figures are given as "All" and then subdivided into "White" and "Other All" (which means "all other"). These two figures add up to the total "All". Then "Black" is listed, and it is always less than or equal to "Other All", since it is a subdivision of it. From: ronkanen@cc.helsinki.fi (Osmo Ronkanen) Newsgroups: talk.abortion,alt.abortion Subject: Re: Death rates -- abortion vs. childbirth Date: 12 Dec 1996 01:02:32 +0200Organization: University of Helsinki TABLE M1: Mortality related to Legal abortion in the US 1973-1990. Following table is from Health, United States 1995 (Table 17). The numbers of abortion are based on CDC figures, with AGI figures, the rates would drop somewhat. Abortion related deaths Period of Number of Rate per gestation reported Number 100,000 and year abortions abortions Total 1973-75 2,234,160 80 3.6 1976-78 3,225,473 37 1.1 1979-81(1 3,850,287 39 1.0 1982-84(2 3,906,488 34 0.9 1985-87(3 4,010,353 29 0.7 1988-90(4 4,197,520 33 0.8 Under 9 weeks 1973-75 928,731 7 0.8 1976-78 1,620,841 6 0.4 1979-81 1,989,506 11 0.6 1982-84 1,947,672 4 0.2 1985-87 1,987,428 3 0.2 1988-90 1,987,428 4 0.2 9-10 weeks 1973-75 642,922 14 2.2 1976-78 882,051 7 0.8 1979-81 1,025,656 7 0.7 1982-84 1,049,486 6 0.6 1985-87 1,067,104 1 0.1 1988-90 1,084,040 1 0.1 11-12 weeks 1973-75 355,304 12 3.4 1976-78 425,744 2 0.5 1979-81 471,921 6 1.3 1982-84 497,367 4 0.8 1985-87 507,712 3 0.6 1988-90 517,392 - - 13 weeks and over 1973-75 307,203 47 15.3 1976-78 296,837 22 7.4 1979-81 363,204 13 3.6 1982-84 411,963 16 3.9 1985-87 448,109 13 2.9 1988-90 448,109 13 2.9 1) includes two deaths with weeks of gestation unknown. 2) includes four deaths with weeks of gestation unknown. 3) includes six deaths with weeks of gestation unknown or unreported. 4) Gestational age distribution unreported. *) Estimates with relative standard errors greater than 30 percent are considered unreliable. Estimates with relative standard error greater than 50 percent are considered highly unreliable and are not shown. SOURCE: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Surveillance Summaries. Abortion Surveillance. United States. 1990. Vol. 41 No. SS-4. Pub DHHS. Atlanta. Ga. Oct. 1992. and Abortion Sirvellance. United States 1992." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TABLE M2 Abortion-related deaths by type abortion in the US 1972-1990 Abortion deaths in the US 1972-1990 rate year legal illegal induced spontaneous unknown total /100,000 1972 24 39 63 25 2 90 4.1 1973 25 19 44 10 3 57 4.1 1974 26 6 32 21 1 54 3.4 1975 29 4 33 14 1 48 3.4 1976 11 2 13 13 1 27 1.1 1977 17 4 21 16 0 37 1.6 1978 9 7 16 9 0 25 0.8 1979 22 0 22 10 0 32 1.8 1980 9 1 10 7 2 19 0.7 1981 8 1 9 3 0 12 0.6 1982 11 1 12 6 0 18 0.8 1983 11 1 12 7 0 19 0.9 1984 12 0 12 6 0 18 0.9 1985 11 1 12 8 1 21 0.8 1986 11 0 11 5 2 18 0.8 1987 7 2 9 8 0 17 0.5 1988 16 0 16 8 0 24 1.2 1989 12 1 13 4 0 17 0.9 1990 5 0 5 5 0 10 0.3 Total 276 89 365 185 13 563 1.3 (rate based on CDC count of abortions) Summary: Rates Deaths A B 1972-79 163 1.9 2.2 1980-89 113 0.7 0.8 A) Denominator from AGI (except for 1972) B) Denominator from CDC CDC Abortion Surveillance 1992 (MMWR Vol 45 No SS-3, May 3, 1996) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- TABLE M8: Maternal deaths separated by causes in the US (1980-1993) The number in parenthesis is per 100,000 live births. AM42 AM43 AM44 1988 61 (1.6) 253 (6.5) 16 (0.4) 1989 50 (1.2) 241 (6.0) 29 (0.7) 1990 57 (1.4) 265 (6.4) 21 (0.5) 1992 52 (1.3) 249 (6.1) 17 1993 47 (1.2) 241 (6.0) 14 AM42: Abortion (all pregnancies with abortive outcome) AM43: Direct obstetric causes AM44: Indirect obstetric causes Sources: UN Demographic yearbook 1991-93 Monthly Vital Statistics Report Vol 43 No 6(S) March 22, 1995. Advance Report of Final Mortality Statistics 1992 p. 67 Monthly Vital Statistics Report Vol 44 No 7(S) February 29, 1996. Advance Report of Final Mortality Statistics 1993 p. 39 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TABLE M10: Maternal deaths and maternal mortality in the US 1992, 1993 1992: Other All White all Black Complications of pregnancy, childbirth, and the puerperium......... 318 161 157 140 Pregnancy with abortive outcome........ 52 25 27 26 Ectopic pregnancy...................... 28 13 15 14 Spontaneous abortion ................... 9 6 3 3 Legally induced abortion ................ 5 3 2 2 Illegally induced abortion............... 2 1 1 1 Other pregnancy with abortive outcome.... 8 2 6 6 Direct obstetric causes ............... 249 126 123 107 Hemorrhage of pregnancy and childbirth . 39 16 23 18 Toxemia of pregnancy ................... 53 24 29 28 Obstructed labor - - - - Complications of the puerperium ........ 95 49 46 40 Other direct obstetric causes .......... 62 37 25 21 Indirect obstetric causes .............. 17 10 7 7 Rates (per 100,000 live births in the specified group) Other All White all Black Complications of pregnancy, childbirth, and the puerperium......... 7.8 5.0 18.2 20.8 Pregnancy with abortive outcome........ 1.3 0.8 3.1 3.9 Direct obstetric causes ............... 6.1 3.9 14.2 15.9 Source: Monthly Vital Statistics Report Vol 43 No 6(S) March 22, 1995. Advance Report of Final Mortality Statistics 1992 p. 67 1993: Other All White all Black Complications of pregnancy, childbirth, and the puerperium......... 302 152 150 135 Pregnancy with abortive outcome........ 47 21 26 25 Ectopic pregnancy...................... 34 12 22 21 Spontaneous abortion ................... 4 3 1 1 Legally induced abortion ................ 4 2 2 2 Illegally induced abortion............... - - - - Other pregnancy with abortive outcome.... 5 4 1 1 Direct obstetric causes ............... 241 124 117 104 Hemorrhage of pregnancy and childbirth . 40 17 23 21 Toxemia of pregnancy ................... 53 35 18 16 Obstructed labor - - - - Complications of the puerperium ....... 101 48 53 46 Other direct obstetric causes .......... 47 24 23 21 Indirect obstetric causes .............. 14 7 7 7 Rates (per 100,000 live births in the specified group) Other All White all Black Complications of pregnancy, childbirth, and the puerperium......... 7.5 5.0 17.6 20.5 Pregnancy with abortive outcome........ 1.2 0.7 3.1 3.8 Direct obstetric causes ............... 6.0 3.9 13.8 15.8 Source: Monthly Vital Statistics Report Vol 44 No 7(S) February 29, 1996. Advance Report of Final Mortality Statistics 1993 p. 39 Note: The number of deaths from legally induced abortions is not comparable to the one given by CDC abortion surveillance (Tables M1-M2)