Abortion is the top cause of death in the United States
by Randall K. O’Bannon, Ph.D.
Research the major causes of death in the United States for 2009, and you will find that the top two causes are "diseases of the heart," which accounted for 599,413 deaths, followed closely by "malignant neoplasms" (cancerous tumors) at 567,628.
Not surprisingly, cancer and heart disease are considered major health concerns, and with good reason.
Death statistics do not usually include babies being killed by abortion. But when one considers abortion as a cause of death, it is almost equivalent to the government's top two causes combined! The 1,152,000 deaths from abortion in 2009 easily make it the nation's leading cause of death, responsible, when added back in, for almost a third (32.1%) of all the deaths recorded that year.
Abortion leading cause of death among minorities
While abortion has harmed society as a whole, the impact on minorities is even more significant.
As many pro-lifers know, abortion rates for minorities are considerably higher than they are for whites: 11.9% of non-Hispanic white pregnancies are aborted, 17.1% of Hispanic pregnancies, and 35.5% of those of non-Hispanic blacks.
Applied to the overall pregnancy figures, this translates into 383,000 abortions for whites, 252,000 abortions for Hispanics, and 445,000 abortions for blacks. Looked at in relation to other causes of death by race and ethnicity, this makes abortion responsible for 16.4% of white deaths-the third most significant cause behind heart disease and cancer. But abortion is by far the leading cause for Hispanics, responsible for 64% of deaths, and for blacks, at 61.1%- close to two out of every three deaths experienced by these communities.
Lost years as well as lives
Much more is involved here than abortion simply increasing the numbers of deaths.
One of the reasons that mortality statistics are carefully collected and scrutinized is to determine how best to focus research and public resources. If cancer, heart disease, or the like constitute the leading preventable causes of death in the United States, it makes some sense to focus attention and funding on those conditions and diseases.
Another way researchers measure the impact of disease is to count not only the lives lost but the relative years lost. This calculates how many additional, potentially productive years of life people would have experienced if they had not succumbed to that particular malady.
"Years of potential life lost," or YPPL, is the standard used by the NCHS, now pegged as "YPLL 75" to reflect the idea that 75 years is now closer to the average American's longevity.
However, when abortion is considered and contrasted with other causes of death, the disparity is even more jaw-dropping.
For everyone in the U.S., cancer was responsible for nearly 4.4 million YPLL. Heart disease was responsible just over 3 million. All other remaining causes of death (accidental, homicide, diabetes, respiratory diseases, etc.) were responsible for only about 13 million YPLLs.
The calculation of the years of potential life lost due to abortion? Even after subtracting for estimated "natural fetal losses" - a staggering 68.4 million years!
Minorities were hit the hardest. Of the 17.7 million YPLLs lost by Hispanics, nearly 15.5 million (or 87.4%) were due to abortion. Of the 29.4 million YPLLs lost by blacks, 25.4 million (or 86.5%) were from abortion.
The cost is extraordinarily high
No disease, no kind of violence comes close to having the impact on these communities that abortion does. Not only lives are lost, but years of creativity, productivity, and love.
Billions are spent to try to eradicate heart disease, to end cancer, to stop violence. To the extent we succeed and families enjoy a few more years with their loved ones, we all celebrate.
But if the figures are telling us that abortion is, by far, the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, wouldn't the prevention of abortion represent one of the best possible uses of our time, resources, and efforts?
Read the complete article for more details
This article is excerpted from "UNC Study Shows Enormity of Abortion's Impact on Public Health, Minorities," by Randall K. O'Bannon, PhD. For references on all of the facts given in this summary, and for more details, read the complete article in the August 9, 2016, issue of National Right to Life News Today, www.nationalrighttolifenews.org.