Statistics: Abortion-Related Deaths

See our article Abortion-Related Deaths for some commentary on these statistics.

Abortion-Related Deaths
		Maternal deaths
Year¹	Legal Abortions	Legal abortions	Illegal abortions
1958-62²		5	359³
1963-67²		4	272³
1968-69²		4	111
1970		36	109
1971		54	65
1972		24	41
1973	615,831	25	21
1974	763,476	26	7
1975	854,853	29	4
1976	988,267	11	3
1977	1,079,430	17	4
1978	1,157,776	9	7
1979	1,251,921	18	0
1980	1,297,606	9	2
1981	1,300,760	7
1982-84	3,906,488	34
1985-87⁴	4,010,353	26

Notes:

1. The odd grouping of years and missing data for some years are due to the way data was reported in the mix of sources we used.

2. 1958-1971 are estimates from the Population Council "inflated to comparability with data for later years".

3. Includes deaths from miscarriages.

4. Because there are so many difficulties in getting accurate reports of abortion-related deaths, the government stopped collecting these statistics in 1987.

Sources: National Center for Health Statistics. Health, United States, 1994. Hyattsville, Maryland: Public Health Service, 1995. Table #17 (Data based primarily on reporting by State health departments and by facilities performing abortions.)

Abortion Surveillance 1985, Center for Disease Control, Table #18.

Induced Abortion: World Review 1983, by Christopher Tietze, The Population Council, p 103

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Posted 16 Sep 2000.