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. 2015 Aug;126(2):258-265.
doi: 10.1097/AOG.0000000000000945.

Abortion-Related Mortality in the United States: 1998-2010

Suzanne Zane  1 , Andreea A Creanga, Cynthia J Berg, Karen Pazol, Danielle B Suchdev, Denise J Jamieson, William M Callaghan
Affiliations

Abortion-Related Mortality in the United States: 1998-2010

Suzanne Zane et al. Obstet Gynecol. 2015 Aug.

Abstract

Objective: To examine characteristics and causes of legal induced abortion-related deaths in the United States between 1998 and 2010.

Methods: Abortion-related deaths were identified through the national Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System with enhanced case-finding. We calculated the abortion mortality rate by race, maternal age, and gestational age and the distribution of causes of death by gestational age and procedure.

Results: During the period from 1998-2010, of approximately 16.1 million abortion procedures, 108 women died, for a mortality rate of 0.7 deaths per 100,000 procedures overall, 0.4 deaths for non-Hispanic white women, 0.5 deaths for Hispanic women, and 1.1 deaths for black women. The mortality rate increased with gestational age, from 0.3 to 6.7 deaths for procedures performed at 8 weeks or less and at 18 weeks or greater, respectively. A majority of abortion-related deaths at 13 weeks of gestation or less were associated with anesthesia complications and infection, whereas a majority of abortion-related deaths at more than 13 weeks of gestation were associated with infection and hemorrhage. In 20 of the 108 cases, the abortion was performed as a result of a severe medical condition where continuation of the pregnancy threatened the woman's life.

Conclusion: Deaths associated with legal induced abortion continue to be rare events-less than 1 per 100,000 procedures. Primary prevention of unintended pregnancy, including those in women with serious pre-existing medical conditions, and increased access to abortion services at early gestational ages may help to further decrease abortion-related mortality in the United States.

Level of evidence: III.

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Conflict of interest statement

Financial Disclosure

The authors did not report any potential conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Legal induced abortion mortality, number of deaths, and abortion mortality rates, United States, 1973–2010. Zane. Abortion Mortality in the United States. Obstet Gynecol 2015.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Distribution of legal induced abortion deaths and abortion mortality rates by gestational age, United States, 1998–2010. Zane. Abortion Mortality in the United States. Obstet Gynecol 2015.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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