...In 1998 and 1999 (the most recent years for which data are available), 14 women died as a result of complications from known legal induced abortion. Ten of these deaths occurred in 1998 and four occurred in 1999; no deaths were associated with known illegal abortion...
CDC has periodically reported data on abortion-related deaths since these deaths were first included in the Abortion Surveillance Report in 1972 (5,6). An abortion-related death was defined as a death resulting from 1) a direct complication of an abortion, 2) an indirect complication caused by the chain of events initiated by abortion, or 3) aggravation of a preexisting condition by the physiologic or psychologic effects of the abortion (1,2). Sources of data for abortion-related deaths included national and state vital records, maternal mortality review committees, surveys, private citizens and groups, media reports, health-care providers, medical examiners' reports, and computerized searches of full-text newspaper databases. All deaths associated with any type of abortion, induced or spontaneous, were investigated. For each death possibly related to an induced abortion or an abortion of unknown type, clinical records and autopsy reports were requested and reviewed by two clinically experienced medical epidemiologists to determine the cause of death and whether the death was abortion related. Each abortion-related death was then categorized as legal induced, illegal induced, spontaneous, or unknown (whether induced or spontaneous). Abortion-related deaths for 1972--1999 are provided in this report. Abortion mortality data are updated whenever additional information is supplied to CDC. The 1999 data have not been published previously and are the most recent data available. National case-fatality rates were calculated as the number of known legal induced abortion-related deaths per 100,000 reported legal induced abortions. Case-fatality rates for 1972--1997 are provided in this report. Case-fatality rates for 1998--1999 cannot be calculated because a substantial number of abortions occurred in the four nonreporting states, and the total number of abortions (the denominator) is unknown....