Changes

Claims that tens of thousands of women lost their lives annually from [[illegal abortion]] persist to this day.<ref>[http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/book/companion.asp?compID=100&id=20 "The Impact of Illegal Abortion" from Abortion Access Project]</ref>

Claims that tens of thousands of women lost their lives annually from [[illegal abortion]] persist to this day.<ref>[http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/book/companion.asp?compID=100&id=20 "The Impact of Illegal Abortion" from Abortion Access Project]</ref>

The original source of the claim that 5,000 - 10,000 women died from criminal abortions annually in the US was a book -- ''Abortion, Spontaneous and Induced'' -- published in 1936 by Dr. Frederick Taussig, a leading proponent of legalization of abortion. Taussig himself, at a conference in 1942, apologized for using "the wildest estimates" to generate a bogus number.<ref>[http://www.thefreelibrary.com/A+Primer+on+%22Abortion+Distortion%22.-a0124171531 "A Primer on 'Abortion Distortion'", National Right to Life Committee]</ref>

The original source of the claim that 5,000 - 10,000 women died from criminal abortions annually in the US was a book -- ''Abortion, Spontaneous and Induced''—published in 1936 by Dr. Frederick Taussig, a leading proponent of legalization of abortion. Taussig himself, at a conference in 1942, apologized for using "the wildest estimates" to generate a bogus number.<ref>[http://www.thefreelibrary.com/A+Primer+on+%22Abortion+Distortion%22.-a0124171531 "A Primer on 'Abortion Distortion'", National Right to Life Committee]</ref>

Peer-reviewed articles published in the decades before ''Roe'' gave varied estimates of the number of abortion deaths annually, but all tended to confirm the numbers cited by Mary Calderone, who was then Medical Director of Planned Parenthood. Calderone reported on a conference studying abortion in America. She indicated that in 1957, there were 260 abortion deaths nationwide. That number included all abortions: legal, illegal, and spontaneous.<ref>Mary Calderone, "Illegal abortion as a public health issue," ''American Journal of Public Health'', July 1960</ref> These numbers were based on alerting doctors, law enforcement, coroners, and hospital administrators, along with public records officials, of their responsibility to report these deaths.

Peer-reviewed articles published in the decades before ''Roe'' gave varied estimates of the number of abortion deaths annually, but all tended to confirm the numbers cited by Mary Calderone, who was then Medical Director of Planned Parenthood. Calderone reported on a conference studying abortion in America. She indicated that in 1957, there were 260 abortion deaths nationwide. That number included all abortions: legal, illegal, and spontaneous.<ref>Mary Calderone, "Illegal abortion as a public health issue," ''American Journal of Public Health'', July 1960</ref> These numbers were based on alerting doctors, law enforcement, coroners, and hospital administrators, along with public records officials, of their responsibility to report these deaths.

What the authors fail to note is that abortion mortality had been falling since at least since 1940, when public health officials started tabulating abortion mortality separately from other causes of maternal mortality. [http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PtijYSkNn3A/RxcsOA7tDVI/AAAAAAAAAF4/xH1_7hQmg3Y/s1600-h/chapter27_1.gif This graph] illustrates when sulfa drugs and penicillin were introduced, as well as two major landmarks in abortion legalization: the legalization of abortion on demand in [[New York]] and [[California]] (1970) and the ''Roe vs. Wade'' decision striking down abortion laws nationwide (1973).

What the authors fail to note is that abortion mortality had been falling since at least since 1940, when public health officials started tabulating abortion mortality separately from other causes of maternal mortality. [http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PtijYSkNn3A/RxcsOA7tDVI/AAAAAAAAAF4/xH1_7hQmg3Y/s1600-h/chapter27_1.gif This graph] illustrates when sulfa drugs and penicillin were introduced, as well as two major landmarks in abortion legalization: the legalization of abortion on demand in [[New York]] and [[California]] (1970) and the ''Roe vs. Wade'' decision striking down abortion laws nationwide (1973).

The authors also fail to note that abortion mortality did not improve overall during the 1950s. The decline in abortion deaths slowed, then reversed, before resuming the downward trend in 1960 -- a full decade before the first states legalized on-demand abortion.

The authors also fail to note that abortion mortality did not improve overall during the 1950s. The decline in abortion deaths slowed, then reversed, before resuming the downward trend in 1960—a full decade before the first states legalized on-demand abortion.

==Current Data on Mortality Rates==

==Current Data on Mortality Rates==

The inadequacy of CDC's efforts to collect data on maternal deaths from abortion is best exemplified in the case of a 17-year-old Black girl who bled to death after a 1991 abortion performed by [[National Abortion Federation]] member Robert Crist. Crist discussed his patient's death at the 1992 National Abortion Federation Risk Management Seminar in Dallas. Present at that seminar were two CDC Abortion Surveillance employees, Lisa Koonin and Stanley Henshaw. The case was also highly publicized in both print and broadcast media in Texas, where the girl died, and in Missouri, where Crist had earlier allowed a mentally disabled teenage rape victim to die of abortion complications under his care. In spite of all the publicity, and in spite of Crist discussing the death at a seminar where Koonin and Henshaw were present, the CDC never counted any abortion death that year for any Black teenager.

The inadequacy of CDC's efforts to collect data on maternal deaths from abortion is best exemplified in the case of a 17-year-old Black girl who bled to death after a 1991 abortion performed by [[National Abortion Federation]] member Robert Crist. Crist discussed his patient's death at the 1992 National Abortion Federation Risk Management Seminar in Dallas. Present at that seminar were two CDC Abortion Surveillance employees, Lisa Koonin and Stanley Henshaw. The case was also highly publicized in both print and broadcast media in Texas, where the girl died, and in Missouri, where Crist had earlier allowed a mentally disabled teenage rape victim to die of abortion complications under his care. In spite of all the publicity, and in spite of Crist discussing the death at a seminar where Koonin and Henshaw were present, the CDC never counted any abortion death that year for any Black teenager.

Strangely, in the 1992 Abortion Surveillance Summary, the CDC suddenly tallied 12 additional abortion deaths they'd failed to count in previous years, with no explanation as to how they'd suddenly uncovered these deaths. There are similar additions of five previously uncounted deaths from prior years added to the 2000 Abortion Surveillance Summary, again with no explanation of how these deaths had previously escaped the notice of a data collection system that the CDC claims is noting 94% of all abortion deaths nationwide.<ref>[http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/108/3/200.abstract Cates, W., et. al., Assessment of Surveillance and Vital Statistics Data for Monitoring Abortion Mortality, United States, 1972–1975", Centers for Disease Control</ref> The 4 abortion deaths of 9 that they missed the first time they released mortality data for 1990 means that their initial efforts found only 44% of abortion deaths.

Strangely, in the 1992 Abortion Surveillance Summary, the CDC suddenly tallied 12 additional abortion deaths they'd failed to count in previous years, with no explanation as to how they'd suddenly uncovered these deaths. There are similar additions of five previously uncounted deaths from prior years added to the 2000 Abortion Surveillance Summary, again with no explanation of how these deaths had previously escaped the notice of a data collection system that the CDC claims is noting 94% of all abortion deaths nationwide.<ref>[http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/108/3/200.abstract Cates, W., et. al., Assessment of Surveillance and Vital Statistics Data for Monitoring Abortion Mortality, United States, 1972–1975", Centers for Disease Control]</ref> The 4 abortion deaths of 9 that they missed the first time they released mortality data for 1990 means that their initial efforts found only 44% of abortion deaths.

===Criticism of CDC Numbers===

===Criticism of CDC Numbers===

===What Are The Real Numbers?===

===What Are The Real Numbers?===

If we trust New York City data -- that there really were 30 abortion deaths during 1981 - 1984 -- and the New York City abortion mortality rate was the same as the mortality rate in the rest of the country, that would mean that there were 385 abortion deaths in the US during 1981 - 1984, rather than the 42 the CDC counted. That would mean the CDC is counting only about 11% of abortion deaths -- roughly the number we'd expect them to find if Clarisse Green and the state vital records offices are to be believed, and the CDC is getting abortion mortality data from a sampling of 10% of the nation's death certificates, then assuming that this sample represents all abortion deaths and that all abortion deaths are coded on death certificates in such a way that the NCHS computers notice them and forward them to the CDC.  

If we trust New York City data—that there really were 30 abortion deaths during 1981 - 1984—and the New York City abortion mortality rate was the same as the mortality rate in the rest of the country, that would mean that there were 385 abortion deaths in the US during 1981 - 1984, rather than the 42 the CDC counted. That would mean the CDC is counting only about 11% of abortion deaths—roughly the number we'd expect them to find if Clarisse Green and the state vital records offices are to be believed, and the CDC is getting abortion mortality data from a sampling of 10% of the nation's death certificates, then assuming that this sample represents all abortion deaths and that all abortion deaths are coded on death certificates in such a way that the NCHS computers notice them and forward them to the CDC.  

If we look at the total deaths noted by New York city and state health officials -- 176 deaths out of the 12% of US abortions that take place in New York -- New York deaths ought to be about 12% of US abortion deaths. In that case, there would have been 1,467 abortion deaths in the US during 1981 - 1984, in which case the CDC would be counting only 3% of abortion deaths. This would be the accuracy we'd expect if Clarisse Green and the state vital records offices are to be believed, and also only about 30% of abortion deaths are coded on death certificates in such a way that the NCHS computers notice them.

If we look at the total deaths noted by New York city and state health officials—176 deaths out of the 12% of US abortions that take place in New York—New York deaths ought to be about 12% of US abortion deaths. In that case, there would have been 1,467 abortion deaths in the US during 1981 - 1984, in which case the CDC would be counting only 3% of abortion deaths. This would be the accuracy we'd expect if Clarisse Green and the state vital records offices are to be believed, and also only about 30% of abortion deaths are coded on death certificates in such a way that the NCHS computers notice them.

Reardon also noted that the World Health Organization's coding rule number 12 "requires that deaths due to medical and surgical treatment must be reported under the complication of the procedure (embolism, for example) and not under the condition for treatment (elective abortion)." Reardon quotes researcher Isabelle Bégin:  

Reardon also noted that the World Health Organization's coding rule number 12 "requires that deaths due to medical and surgical treatment must be reported under the complication of the procedure (embolism, for example) and not under the condition for treatment (elective abortion)." Reardon quotes researcher Isabelle Bégin:  

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In effect, this makes the "abortion" category a "ghost" category under which it is simply impossible to code a death due to abortion. Medical coders have in fact relayed that any attempt to code a death due to abortion under abortion yields a "reject message" from the computer programs provided by the National Center for Health Statistics of Washington D.C., a division of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia. Only a minute number of abortion-related deaths actually qualify to be declared under abortion, i.e. those for which the medical certificate of death categorically and unequivocally gives abortion as the underlying cause of death.<ref>Isabelle Bégin, "World-wide Abortion Statistics Scam Exposed," ''Reality'', Oct. 1999. </ref>

In effect, this makes the "abortion" category a "ghost" category under which it is simply impossible to code a death due to abortion. Medical coders have in fact relayed that any attempt to code a death due to abortion under abortion yields a "reject message" from the computer programs provided by the National Center for Health Statistics of Washington D.C., a division of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia. Only a minute number of abortion-related deaths actually qualify to be declared under abortion, i.e. those for which the medical certificate of death categorically and unequivocally gives abortion as the underlying cause of death.<ref>Isabelle Bégin, "World-wide Abortion Statistics Scam Exposed," ''Reality'', Oct. 1999.</ref>

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