Abortions in 1800's
Replies: 7
Re: Abortions in 1800's
 patsysmotherman
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Posted: 10 Jul 2008 5:12PM GMT |
Classification: Query
Abortion is the medical term used for miscarriage. Therapeutic or elective abortions were not legal until the 1960's. You have probably heard of Roe vs. Wade. A spontaneous abortion is what lay people call miscarriage. Sometimes the old death certificates show "septic abortion" which is where an infection occurred in the bloodstream after a "miscarriage" resulting in the patients death. Today a D @ C after a "miscarriage" prevents such infections. Of course illegal abortions occurred long before they were legalized. My grandfathers first wife died of a pulmonary embolus (blood clot) after a miscarriage and her death certificate reads death due to septic abortion. Had I not been a RN and knew the terminology I too would have been alarmed.