The author praised the sponsors of the French legalized abortion law, but considers abortion a failure for both doctor and patient. For doctors abortion is a failure because they have vowed to preserve life: several have become severely depressed after performing abortions. For the patient abortion is a failure because of risk of infection and sterility. The abortion-related mortality statistics due to perforation, anesthesia, coagulopathy, infection, embolism, and suicide range from .04/10,000 in Yugoslavia to 4/10,000 in Scandinavia. Immediate complications of early abortions include bleeding (1-10%), infection (1-27%), thromboembolism, and perforation. Late complications include chronic inflammation, sterility in 11-15%, repeated miscarriage and prematurity in 14-24%, and acute or chronic psychological disorders. Therefore abortion should only be done in exceptional cases of contraceptive failure.