With nearly 42 million abortions performed across the earth in 2018, the murderous procedure was the leading cause of death among individuals worldwide, eclipsing the number of deaths globally from such means as cancer, malaria, HIV/AIDS, smoking, alcohol, and traffic accidents combined.
The sobering numbers come from Worldometers, which (according to its website) “was voted one of the best free reference websites by the American Library Association (ALA), the oldest and largest library association in the world.”
According to Worldometers, by December 31, 2018, an estimated 41.9 million medically induced abortions had been committed across the earth, as compared to 8.2 million deaths from cancer, five million from smoking, and around 1.7 million deaths from HIV/AIDS. Globally, some 23 percent of all pregnancies were terminated via abortion in 2018, with 10 pre-born babies killed by abortion for every 33 that were allowed to live.
Worldometers abortion estimates for 2018 are significantly less than the World Health Organization’s estimates of 56 million yearly abortions worldwide from 2010 to 2014. However, noted LifesiteNews.com, Michael Spielman of Abort73, a pro-life organization, “warns that WHO relies on estimates from the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, which he argues used questionable methodology to compensate for many countries’ complete lack of actual data.”
LifeSiteNews quoted Spielman as writing that “‘of the 56.3 million global abortions Guttmacher estimates annually, no more than 10% can be officially accounted for and only 23% have any basis in empirical evidence…. The other 77% are assumed based upon a complex statistical model that estimates’ a variety of factors. Most significantly, Guttmacher ‘assume[s] a constant abortion rate that is unaffected by the legality of abortion,’ potentially to sway the findings in favor of the abortion lobby’s claim that pro-life laws are ineffective.”
Another pro-life website, LifeNews.com, noted that of the nearly 42 million abortions committed globally in 2018, approximately one million of those happened in the United States. Writer Micaiah Bilger noted that while abortion rates have dropped in the United States over the past 10 years, “abortion remains the leading cause of death in the United States as well,” and “an estimated 60 million unborn babies have been killed in abortions in the U.S. since Roe v. Wade in 1973.”
She added that “in January, pro-life advocates will gather for the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. to remember the anniversary of that infamous decision and call for restored protections for the unborn.” March for Life 2019 will take place on January 18.