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Summary
A new method estimates hospitalized illegal abortions using spontaneous abortion rates. This calculation yields significantly lower figures than previous estimations, suggesting older methods may have overestimated illegal abortion incidence.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Reproductive Health
- Medical Statistics
Background:
- The Danish National Board of Health provides data on conceptions, including births, legal abortions, and hospitalized abortions.
- Previous estimations of illegal abortion rates (1960-71) exist, but a new calculation method is proposed.
Purpose of the Study:
- To estimate the incidence of hospitalized illegal abortions using a novel calculation method.
- To compare the results of the new method with previous estimations of illegal abortion rates.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing official statistics on births, legal abortions, and hospitalized abortions.
- Applying a newly developed calculation method based on the percentage of conceptions ending in spontaneous abortion (8% for 1974-1976).
Main Results:
- The new method estimates a substantially lower proportion of illegal abortions compared to previous studies.
- The results from the new method align closely with the minimum figures derived from older methodologies.
Conclusions:
- The discrepancy between the new and old methods may stem from the outdated, likely underestimated, spontaneous abortion rates used in prior calculations.
- Further examination of potential errors in both methods is warranted to refine understanding of illegal abortion incidence.