LeBolt S A, Grimes D A, Cates W
JAMA. 1982 Jul 9;248(2):188-91.
Critics have challenged previous comparisons of mortality from legal abortion and childbirth for contrasting population groups with different clinical characteristics. They allege that most women dying from abortion were young, white, and healthy, while those dying from childbirth had serious underlying conditions. To address this question, we calculated standardized abortion and childbirth mortality rates between 1972 and 1978. We also adjusted independently for preexisting medical conditions. These adjustments for demographic and health differences between the two populations actually widened the difference in the mortality risk between abortion and childbirth. Thus, between 1972 and 1978, women were about seven times more likely to die from childbirth than from legal abortion, with the gap increasing in the more recent years.
批评者对之前针对具有不同临床特征的不同人群组所做的合法堕胎与分娩死亡率比较提出了质疑。他们声称，大多数死于堕胎的女性年轻、白人且健康，而死于分娩的女性则有严重的潜在疾病。为解决这个问题，我们计算了1972年至1978年间的标准化堕胎和分娩死亡率。我们还针对既存疾病进行了独立调整。对这两个人群组之间人口统计学和健康差异的这些调整实际上扩大了堕胎和分娩之间死亡风险的差异。因此，在1972年至1978年间，女性死于分娩的可能性约为合法堕胎的七倍，且近年来差距不断增大。
