Mortality and morbidity associated with legal abortions in Hungary, 1960-1973

Abstract

In Hungary, with 10 million inhabitants, the number of induced abortions in the 1960's first approached and then reached 200,000 cases annually. These data mean that the number of induced abortions has increased substantially compared with earlier decades. A qualitative change has also occurred, from criminal abortions to, in most cases, legally induced abortions performed in hospitals. On the basis of 32 deaths directly resulting from legal induced abortion in the first trimester during 1960-1972, maternal mortality is about 1.5 per 100,000 abortions in Hungary, the lowest rat observed until the present anywhere in the world. According to a special survey conducted in Budapest in 1966, the overall morbidity rate was 41.6 per 1,000 abortions of which 0.9 was due to perforations, 22.7 to post-abortal hemorrhages, and 18.0 to inflammatory complications, i.e., early post-abortal complications had to be reckoned with in every 25th case. Data in the present study suggest a correlation between induced abortions and the incidence of placenta previa, premature separation of the placenta, and premature births.