Daily AncestorAbortion
Abortion on an old death record usually meant the loss of a pregnancy before the baby could live, including what we call a miscarriage.
Webster's 1913 defines abortion first as giving birth prematurely, before the fetus can live, and gives miscarriage as a synonym. The 1911 Census Bureau manual says the term was not used in an invidious sense, and that a criminal abortion should be stated as such.
IPUMS has abortion in its code for accidents of pregnancy. New York City returned certificates that gave abortion without explanation as the sole cause.
As seen in a recordCause of death column, 1850 to 1880 federal mortality schedule
Mrs. Nancy Bechtold, 31, F, W, June, Abortion, 3 ds.
Sources
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Daily Ancestor. "Abortion." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/causes-of-death/abortion. Last checked 2026-10-12.