ABORTION DANGER

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 281, 24 August 1944, Page 4

ABORTION DANGER

Deaths As Result The dangers attendant on the practice Of abortion are graphically illustrated in New Zealand's official statistics. Last year nearly one-quarter of the total deaths from all puerperal causes were attributable to septic abortion, which, in almost all cases, is the result of artificial interference with pregnancy. Though the death rate from all puerperal causes per 1000 live births has steadily declined from 6.48 in 1920 to 2.21 in 1943, the death rate from septic abortion per 1000 live births has shown a general tendency to increase since 1926, the first year for which figures are available. In 1926 the death rate from all puerperal causes, including septic abortion, was 4.25. In the last eight years it has only once reached 4 per 1000, and in the last four years has only once reached 3 per 1000. Last year it watt 2.21. On the other hand, the. death rate from septic abortion alone in 11926 was 46 per 1000 live births. Each year since then, with only one exception, it has been higher than that figure, reaching a peak of 1.73 in 1934. In six of the IS years it has been higher than one per 1000 live births, and in 12 of the IS rears it has been higher than b per 1000. Last year it was .49, and the year before it was .8. In the years 1933-37, inclusive. New Zealand, so far as available figures show, had the seventh lowest maternal mortality rate, excluding septic abortion, in the world. In the same period it had the third highest rate for septic abortion.