Difficulties in Reporting Maternal Deaths From Legal Abortion

Maternal Deaths

The average annual maternal deaths from legal abortion in the above table is between 50 and 100, which coincides with the average annual maternal deaths from illegal abortion in the United States, said anteriormente16. However, it is likely that the true number of maternal deaths a year by legal abortion is even higher than between 50 and 100. The problem is that after the legalization of abortion in the United States, the following difficulties have arisen for reporting maternal deaths from legal abortion:

1. The report of maternal deaths is voluntary. In the U.S. there is no legal requirement for doctors who perform abortions to report maternal deaths caused by abortions. Obviously, these doctors will try to avoid having to report these deaths. So said Dr. W. Gates, who performed abortions: “It’s like surrender to the Bureau of Internal Revenue Service for an audit. What is gained by that? There is a tendency not to report them, because it brings negative incentives.” 17

2. Most deaths occur after women have left the abortion mill. The Manual of public health service of the U.S. to report induced terminations of pregnancy indicates that “no complications at the time that the report does, select ‘no’.” 18 This gives way to handling the death certificate. For example, in 1989, Erica Richardson and Debra Gray, both the State of Maryland, died from abortions legales19. However, the Health Department said state reported no maternal deaths by legal abortion that year. The autopsy report of Richardson is very revealing: the cause of his injury was categorized as “therapeutic misfortune” and his death as “accidental.” 20

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