Mortality From Abortion and Childbirth

To the Editor.— There is a serious misconception created in the studies by Cates et al (1982;248:192) and LeBolt et al (1982;248:188) inThe Journal. Both of the articles on mortality from abortion and childbirth purported to show that a woman is "seven times more likely to die from childbirth than from legal abortion." Since their abortion population is heavily skewed toward procedures performed during the first trimester of pregnancy, it is invalid to make conclusions about abortions in general. Few would contest that a suction of dilation and curettage abortion during the first 12 weeks is, physically, a relatively safe procedure. Surely the authors do not believe that a hypernatremic abortion or hysterotomy performed in the second or third trimester is safer than childbirth. Yet, it appears that family planning counselors may take these studies at face value and erroneously assure women in late-term pregnancies that abortion is a