Dan Med Bull
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For the years 1974, 1975, and 1976, the Danish National Board of Health has published statistical material showing the percentage of known conceptions (births, legal abortions, and other cases of hospitalized abortion) which end in spontaneous abortion. For the above-mentioned three-year period, the proportion was eight percent. The author shows that by employing this figure and the figures for births, legal abortions, and all other hospitalized abortion cases, the hospitalized illegal abortion cases can be estimated. ⋯ The author quotes literature which shows that these figures today are regarded as far too low. The application of these figures in the calculations might explain the disagreement between the results of the two methods. Some of the errors are examined.