In January 2024, Worldometer, a live statistics website, reported that 44 million elective abortions were performed in the year 2022, thereby making abortion the leading cause of human death.
According to Worldometer, the second leading cause of death in 2022 was communicable diseases, causing almost 13 million victims. Deaths attributed to infectious diseases and cancer accounted for more than 8 million deaths, while smoking caused approximately 5 million deaths. Alcohol contributed to 2.5 million deaths, and AIDS resulted in around 2 million deaths. All these combined still fall short of the number of lives lost due to abortion in 2022.
An important observation is that not only is abortion the primary cause of human death, but its number is also nearly four times that of the second leading cause, which is communicable diseases. Considering that abortion has been the primary cause of human death for four consecutive years, it is imperative to address the problem. Two considerations arise here: first, we must question the legitimacy or impartiality of this figure, as it is known that abortion statistics have been subject to manipulation on more than one occasion. Second, we must ask ourselves what actions will be taken in response to this trend.
It’s time to question abortion statistics
Regarding the first objective of this report, it can be highlighted that it has been proven that abortion statistics have been manipulated to justify the needs of the pro-abortion agenda in countries.
For example, in Chile, a document published in 2021 by a parliamentary technical advisory team, available in the Chilean Library of Congress, explains that unofficial figures indicate that the number of abortions in Chile at the time of the enactment of the IVE Law [elective abortion law] varied between 60,000 and 300,000 per year. These unofficial figures do not align at all with the latest reports from the Ministry of Health, which indicate only 3,000 abortions occurred under the law through June 2022.
Another example we can use to support the assertion about the manipulation of figures is the case of Argentina. Before the enactment of the abortion law, several feminist experts justified the legalization of abortion by claiming that 500,000 clandestine abortions were performed each year. However, in the report by the oversight group called “Proyecto mirar,” of which they themselves are part, these same experts specify that the number of abortions performed in the public sector was 73,487 in 2021 and 96,664 in 2022. While nearly one hundred thousand abortions are alarming, it is significantly far less than the claimed half million clandestine abortions. In the report, the specialists do not address the disparity between their estimates and the actual number. Finally, the reports by researchers such as Elard Koch were more accurate and demonstrate that the pro-abortion campaign overestimates the number of illegal abortions to gain emotional appeal for legalization.
In Bolivia, for example, the arguments in favor of decriminalizing abortion are biased. Accordingly, the Platform and the Medical College of Santa Cruz denounced IPAS Bolivia’s false statistics since there is no way of controlling or maintaining official statistics regarding deaths caused by clandestine abortions, including the statistics presented by IPAS Bolivia.
In the same way, Costa Rica is experiencing a similar reality regarding data collection; therefore, estimates also run the risk of being manipulated according to the pro-abortion agenda. In July 2023, Costa Rica received a visit from Tlaleng Mofokeng, a special rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. Regarding abortion, she asserted that “the lack of disaggregated data hinders the ability to fully analyze the situation of specific groups and, therefore, to adopt policies and allocate resources from an equity perspective.”
The events surrounding abortion in Canada cannot be ignored either. In November 2023, Canada published a database with vital statistics corresponding to deaths in the country. When asked why deaths due to euthanasia were not included in that report, the organization responded that cases of medically assisted death are recorded by the underlying condition for which the assistance to die was requested.
Both misinformation and data manipulation are not overlooked by international organizations such as the UN or WHO to accuse countries and sustain constant pressure on nations to advance anti-life policies.
But the influence does not stop here. The pressure is multilateral. Both Worldometer and WHO cite studies conducted by the scientific journal “The Lancet,” whose published findings were funded by the UK government, the WHO, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Agency for Development Cooperation of the Norwegian government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, among others. All these financiers are known for promoting the practice of so-called “safe abortion” and using it as a standard to measure the level of good access to health services.
What to do about it?
The lack of national-level data in Latin American countries is evident. The Guttmacher Institute, known for its leadership in the abortion cause through its contribution of figures, has published an explanation of its estimates on unintended pregnancy and abortion on its website. It details that its conclusions are the result of estimates based on models using data collected by countries. However, only 75 out of the 166 countries consulted provided reliable information and collected data. That is less than half of the countries. In the same section, it points out that while model-based estimates offer an additional approach to approximating data that are difficult to collect, it does not replace the need for robust in-country data collection systems and studies, which can provide more comprehensive information on sexual and reproductive health outcomes at the national level and for population groups and areas within a country.
No estimate or manipulation of figures will have strength over a country that refutes them with real, comprehensive, and available data. In turn, such information will provide its population with an indispensable tool not only to address the true reasons as to why women seek abortion as a solution, but also help the active exercise of democracy.
Only with reliable and available information in everyone’s hands can the citizenry get involved in solving the problem and generating public policies that address the needs of its citizens.
Read this report in Spanish here.
