Bertillon estimates the number of criminal abortions in Paris at 50,000 annually, in Lyons at 19,000. (Le depopulation de la France). P. 8.
We must first attack a very wide-spread fallacy, namely that abortion is more prevalent among unmarried girls than among married women. In other words, that it is concomitant with free sex relations. This fallacy is exploded by practical medical experience as well as by observation and statistics of social conditions. P. 23.
Among the causes of criminal abortion the fear on the part of the woman of the pains and dangers of confinement plays a not inconsiderable role. P. 54.
In marriage the cause for the practice of abortion springs in most cases from economic necessity. Most frequently this necessity is a genuine dire need arising from overcrowded quarters, lack of food and clothing, sickness and lack of employment. P. 33.
This economic need finds its most obvious expression in the congestion of the city populations. P. 34.
The dangers of childbirth are still serious enough to cause a certain degree of uneasiness in the woman and the family circle. This foreboding is due partly to our higher valuation upon health and life, and also to a shifting of pre-eminence from a solely generative function in women to other interests in their life. P. 84.
This greater consideration and valuation of woman’s individuality is the expression of continued progress and a higher culture. P. 87.
TRUCHTABTREIBUNG UND PRAVENTIVVERKEHR, In Zusammenhang mit dem Geburtenruckzang; Eine medizinische, juristische und sozialpolitische Betrachtung von Dr. Max Hirsch, Wurtzburg, Kabitzsch Verlag, 1914.
In Chicago six to ten thousand abortions are performed yearly, of which 75–90% are married women. P. 7.
I believe I may say without exaggeration that absolutely spontaneous or unprovoked abortions are extremely rare, that the vast majority—I should estimate it at more than 80% of abortions have a criminal origin. P. 9.