2 FEBRUARY 1974, Page 4

Sir: Robert Lindsay (January 19) correctly quotes (footnote 26) the

Simms and Hindell book as saying that "The number of abortion deaths from all causes fell from fifty in 1968 to thirty-five in 1969," taking this to have been a beneficial result of the Abortion Act 1967, which came into operation on April 28, 1968.

But it may be worth pointing out that the corresponding total for 1967, the last full year before the law was changed, was in fact thirty-four.

Elspeth RhysWilliams Honorary Secretary, The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, 47 Eaton Place, London SW1