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SummaryAims Whether pregnant women with Type 1 diabetes mellitus (Type 1 DM) have an increased risk of abortions is controversial. The aim of the present Danish population-based study of 33% of the Danish population was to describe the pattern of self-reported miscarriage and stillbirths from 1304 women with Type 1 DM. Methods Data were obtained by questionnaire. The current age of the women was 20–65 years and their age at diabetes onset was 30 years or less. Results The frequency of spontaneous abortions (SA) and induced abortions (IA) reported from women diagnosed with Type 1 DM prior to pregnancy was 17.5% (95% CI 15.5–19.9%) and 18.0%. (95% CI 16.0–20.0%), respectively. No significant differences in abortion frequencies before or after 1980 were reported. Previous findings of a decreasing stillbirth-rate in diabetic pregnancies during the last decades were supported. Conclusions The reported SA frequency of 17.5% (95% CI 15.5–19.9%) in pregnant women with Type 1 DM is higher than previously reported SA rates of 10–12% in Danish nondiabetic women and the SA rate is more than twice the SA rate found in a previous Danish study from a highly specialized obstetrical centre for diabetic women. These data suggest an urgent need for further improvement in the general management of Danish pregnant women with Type 1 DM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]