Leading cause of Death in the US - Abortion

How much attention has been paid to the number of American lives lost in Iraq? It seems that every evening news program leads with a story of a death or an updated on the count. News stories lead with headlines such as “New Record for Deaths in Iraq” (referring to the highest monthly total deaths since the war began). Several newspapers like the Sun-Sentinel have daily updates on the count of deaths. Remember a few months ago when the total passed 1,000 and the media held that number up like a landmark? The traveling exhibit “Eyes Wide Open” attempts to illustrate the vastness of the death count so we of simple minds can understand it, by displaying a pair of combat boots for each soldier who died. I even saw local school had an assembly in which students displayed 1,000 pieces of paper to illustrate the number.

All of this has been meant to churn out the death total as a statistic in order to undermine both the Iraq War (and President Bush) and war in general. I for one, both mourn for those who were lost, but respect the sacrifice that they made. As far as loss of life goes, it is expected in war. Assuming you believe, as I think most of us do, that there are some things worth fighting for, and worth dying for, the question is “Are 1200 lives too much to sacrifice to free a nation for a ruthless, totalitarian, genocidal dictator?” I’m not going to answer that question, as this is really not an essay about the war; the question I will answer though is “How does the death total in Iraq stack up statistically?”

The Iraq war has often been call a "quagmire" and compared (by its critics) to the Vietnam War (often by Ted Kennedy). The Vietnam War for those who may not remember, lasted almost 9 years, whereas US troops have not yet been in Iraq two years. In terms of the death toll, over 58,000 US troups died in Vietnam (versus about 1,400 in Iraq as of the latest count). That represents an average of 7,000 casualities in Vietnam per year, or about 9 times the casuality rate in Iraq. Does anyone else think the comparison to Vietnam is a gross exaggeration?

Comparing the US deaths in Iraq to the causes of death in the US leads similary conclusions. Over 700,000 individuals die each year from heart disease, the "leading cause of death" in the US. More people die every day from heart disease than the total in Iraq. There were 16,000 murders in the US in 2001, about 20 times the average annual casualities in Iraq. Shouldn't these be more emphasized in the news? Does the constant coverage and emphasis on the Iraq death toll seem somewhat overblown now?

Now here's the punchline: the real leading cause of death in the US is Abortion. Over 1 Million fetuses are aborted each year in this country. This is 1000 times the total US casualties in Iraq. In fact, almost 3 times as many abortions occur every day as the total deaths in Iraq. WOW! There were almost twice as many abortions as deaths from heart disease? When is the last time you ever heard a news story about the rate of abortions in this country? Imagine if, instead of the evening news leading off with a story about the Iraq death count, to leading off with "Another 4,000 babies were aborted today." Sock! Bam! Boom! What if a university allowed an exhibit showing 1,000,000 empty cribs? Imagine the controversy. Even my pro-choice counterparts would be shocked by these numbers and would have to concede that a million abortions per year is far too many. Yet the perception seems to be that abortions are rare; the media, schools, advocacy groups, and the like continue to focus on the death count in Iraq, but ignore the death count from abortion. Next time someone from the New York Times says conservatives should forget about abortion and worry about "real issues", just consider: is the leading cause of death in the US something we should be fighting?


Cause Total Deaths Per Day Per Year Dates
Iraq 1,368 2.0 744 2003-Jan 18, 2004
Vietnam 58,193 18.8 6,856 1964-1973
Heart Disease 700,142 1918.2 700,142 2001
Accident 101,537 278.2 101,537 2001
Murder 15,980 43.8 15,980 2001
Abortion 1,312,990 3597.2 1,312,990 2000