The reasons are not far to seek: the surreptitious nature of the operation and the lack of skill and surgical cleanliness so frequently shown by the operator make this result almost inevitable.
Has the Practice of Abortion Increased in Recent Years?
In so far as the deaths from septic abortion can be taken as a comparative indication of the occurrence of abortion generally—and the Committee believes this is a fair index—there seems little doubt that there has been a marked increase.
A reference to the graph already given will indicate this rise.
There is reason to hope that the fall in 1935 means an improvement in the general situation.
Professor Dawson, giving evidence regarding admissions to the Dunedin Hospital, showed that in the five-year period 1931-35 there was an increase of 23.7 per cent. in the cases of abortion as compared with the previous five-year period.
The evidence of other medical witnesses was practically unanimous on this point.
How does New Zealand compare with other Countries in this Matter?
According to the report of the British Medical Association Committee on the Medical Aspects of Abortion (1936), the position in Great Britain would appear to be very similar to that existing in New Zealand.
In that report it is stated that the incidence of abortion is generally reckoned at from 16 per cent. to 20 per cent. of all pregnancies.