Mortality and Fertility Control

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Abstract
The authors present a continuation of the thesis suggesting that the most rational procedure for regulating fertility is a perfectly safe, even though not completely effective, contraceptive method combined with safe methods for terminating pregnancy when the contraceptive fails. This analysis demonstrates that, compared with the risk of death from pregnancy and childbirth, major reversible methods of fertility control—the pill, IUDs, condoms, and diaphragms—and abortion are associated with very low levels of mortality. The exception to this statement is pill use after age 40 by women who smoke. This analysis also confirms the very low mortality associated with using the condom and diaphragm with early induced abortion as a backup to terminate pregnancies resulting from contraceptive failures.