SEX-INCIDENCE IN ABORTIONS. 181 



The relative number of abortions is extremely difficult to determine, inasmuch 

 as everywhere large numbers of them, especially of the earlier months, remain 

 unknown, and even the most careful statistics will always be far from complete. 

 The most reliable source of information is probably the estimate of the experienced 

 obstetrician. Williams (1917) expresses himself on the question of frequency of 

 abortions as follows: 



"A conservative estimate would indicate that about every fifth or sixth pregnancy 

 in private practice ends in abortion, and the percentage would be increased considerably 

 were the very early cases taken into account, in which there is profuse loss of blood 

 following the retardation of the menstrual period for a few weeks." 



Other authors give different estimates. Franz (1898) found 15.4 per cent of 

 pregnancies ending in abortion; Malins (1903) found 19.23 per cent; Taussig 

 (1910) estimates that one abortion occurs to every 2.3 labors; Pearson (1897) one 

 to every 2.5 labors; Mall (1910) calculates that there is one abortion to every 4 

 births at term; Ahlfeld (1898) estimates the same proportion; Whitehead (1848) 

 assumes that every seventh pregnancy is interrupted by abortion, and states 

 later on that only 13 per cent of married women who reach the end of the child- 

 bearing period escape having an unsuccessful pregnancy. Auerbach (1912) reports 

 that, according to estimates for Berlin, abortions amount to one-sixth to one-tenth 

 of the number of living-born. According to the same author, in Budapest, from 

 1901 to 1905, there were 111,139 living born, and from 1903 to 1905, 7,702 abortions. 

 Assuming an approximately equal number of living-born for each year, they would 

 amount to 66,678 for the years 1903 to 1905, the proportion of abortions to this 

 number of living-births being 11.55 per cent. This percentage is doubtless too 

 small. Auerbach himself assumes that many abortions of the earlier months are 

 concealed. Under certain circumstances the proportion of miscarriages and 

 abortions may increase tremendously. Bluhm (1918) reports that among working 

 women in Berlin in 1915 and 1916 there were 190 abortions to every 100 full-term 

 births, and attributes this partly to the harmful occupations in factories. 



From these quotations it would seem most probable, on a rough average, that 

 out of every 100 fertilized ova only 78, or even less, develop to term, the remainder 

 being aborted. This intrauterine mortality may appear to many to be very high, 

 but if we consider that during infancy this waste of life continues unabated the 

 above estimate will not seem so improbable. Infant mortality during the first 

 year of life varies in different countries; according to Phelps (1910), from slightly 

 below 10 to 27 (in Russia) per 100 living-born; i. e., the number of infants dying 

 within the first year of life may be more than one-fourth the number of living-born. 1 



It appears that the frequency of abortion is greatest in the first three months 

 of pregnancy. Auerbach, in considerable material, found that half of the abor- 

 tions fell within that period, yet it is for this period that our statistics are most 

 incomplete. In reality, therefore, more than half the number of abortions must 

 occur in the first three months. According to Franz, 42.6 per cent, and according 



In the registration area of the United States in 1900 there were the following death-rates for infanta under 5 years 

 of age (Billings, 1904): White: males 5.33, females 4.43; negroes: males 11.85, females 10.58 per 100. In the negro race 

 infant mortality is more than twice as high as in whites. 



