Ten out of 100 pregnant women may be using cocaine; some may even be using it to induce abortions, replacing coat hangers in the age of post Roe v. Wade.

And the health effects of this drug on not only the mother but also the unborn child can be devastating -- even deadly.

"It has clearly been a major social tragedy that will have devastating effects," said Dr. Jan Schneider, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Medical College of Pennsylvania.

Every day the police bring at least one pregnant woman to the hospital whose placenta is damaged from the effects of cocaine, he said.

Just down the street from University of Pennsylvania's hospital at Temple University's Medical Hospital, Dr. Phillip Hamilton, chairman of the department of obstetrics and gynecology, witnesses similar instances. A severe problem with pregnant women using cocaine exists not in just Philadelphia but in all areas of the country, he said.

Cocaine: The Unseen Danger, a pamphlet by Spence Research Inc., said cocaine-using women are far more likely than non-users to have miscarriages, or spontaneous abortions. About 38 percent of women using cocaine during pregnancy will miscarry.

The use of cocaine as an abortive, Hamilton said, originated in Hollywood, Calif., and has filtered down to women on the streets.

Whether or not these inner-city women are using cocaine to intentionally abort is unknown, but Hamilton suspects many of these women do depend upon cocaine as an abortive.

"We have been seeing an increase in the number of women who are having spontaneous abortions who we suspect used (cocaine)," Hamilton said.

Twenty-seven to 30 percent of the pregnant women at Temple's hospital test positive for cocaine, and 25 to 30 percent of newborns weigh less than 5.5 pounds.

Hamilton said some women turn to cocaine in the early stages of pregnancy and deliver prematurely as a result. These woman could already be heavily dependent upon cocaine before they become pregnant, he said. Some of these babies eventually die, and others have severe birth defects, he said.

Other women near the end of their pregnancies tire of carrying their child and take large doses of cocaine to abort the child, he said.

The pamphlet also said babies born to cocaine addicts are passive and unresponsive compared to other newborns. It is not known whether these behavioral disorders persist beyond infancy, but as late as 24 months, many of these children have trouble speaking and lack awareness of other children.

But Hamilton said there is no way to tell if women are using cocaine "unless you can get people to admit it or use a lie detector."

The only way to really find out is to talk to the women, he said.

"The street knows about it first, then we see the results," Hamilton said.

The problem is not strictly limited to the streets, he said. Children born in suburban areas are just as sick as those born in the inner- cities, he said.