Abortion is the Number One Cause of Death in the World
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”(Psalm 139:13,NIV)
God is the giver of life. He forms each person in the womb and carefully shapes every part of us. Abortion is the act of rejecting His creative hand—interrupting His work and forcibly ending a life knitted by Him.
According to Worldometer in 2021, a real-time global statistics tracker, abortion was the leading cause of death worldwide for two consecutive years. In 2020, there were approximately 42.6 million abortions globally—more than three times the number of deaths caused by infectious diseases, which ranked second at around 13 million. In 2019, the number of abortions was similarly high at 42.4 million. In India, a strong cultural preference for sons led to the abortion of an estimated 2,000 baby girls every day, according to a 2015 report by the India Minister for Women and Child Development.
In South Korea, the Korean Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology reported at a National Assembly forum in January 2017 that there were approximately 1.1 million abortions annually—about 3,000 per day—making Korea’s abortion rate the highest among OECD nations. In comparison, Statistics Korea recorded just over 303,100 births in 2019. This means that more than three times as many babies are aborted each year than are born.
According to 2020 data from the World Health Organization (WHO), two-thirds of United Nations member states prohibit abortion. A total of 131 countries (67%) do not allow abortion simply at the request of a pregnant woman, and 122 countries (63%) do not permit abortion even for social or economic reasons.
Abandoned Babies
According to statistics from the Korean National Police Agency, there were 1,379 reported cases of infant abandonment over a ten-year period starting in 2010. In 2018 alone, 183 cases were recorded—more than four times the number in 2015, which saw just 41 cases. On average, approximately 137 infants are abandoned each year in Korea, about 13 babies every month.
From 2009 to 2021, a total of 1,929 babies were left at the “Baby Box,” a private facility that cares for abandoned infants. In 2011, 35 babies were left, but that number rose to 79 after the revision of the Special Adoption Act in August 2012. It surged to 252 in 2013 and remained in the 200s through 2018.
Most of the mothers who abandon newborns are young women in their teens or twenties who became pregnant unintentionally and were unable to take responsibility for the child. Many concealed their pregnancies from their families, gave birth in secret, and—lacking the ability or circumstances to raise a child—chose to abandon the baby. In some tragic cases, newborns were left to die or were disposed of immediately after birth.
In response, the Korean government has set up shelters for single mothers and is seeking safe options for those unable to give birth and raise a child on their own. However, these resources remain far too limited to meet the growing need.
》Prayer Points
1. A fetus is a human being from the moment it is conceived in the mother’s womb. That’s why everyone must recognize the seriousness of abortion, which is the act of parents taking a life—a form of murder. While two-thirds of UN member states still prohibit abortion, some countries have begun to decriminalize it, legalizing abortion and even covering it under national health insurance. Let us pray that people would clearly see abortion for what it is—a sin before God, the Lord of life—and that the grace of repentance and transformation would be poured out through the truth.
2. Around the world, crimes of newborn abandonment continue—parents discarding babies alive or selling them immediately after birth. Let us pray that the vicious cycle of sexual immorality, unwanted pregnancies, abortions, and the abandonment of newborns would be broken.
》Scripture Prayer
(Proverbs 8:22–36,NIV) 22 “The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old. 23 I was formed long ages ago, at the very beginning, when the world came to be. 24 When there were no watery depths, I was given birth, when there were no springs overflowing with water. 25 Before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was given birth, 26 before he made the world or its fields or any of the dust of the earth. 27 I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep, 28 when he established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep, 29 when he gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep his command, and when he marked out the foundations of the earth. 30 Then I was constantly at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, 31 rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind. 32 “Now then, my children, listen to me; blessed are those who keep my ways. 33 Listen to my instruction and be wise; do not disregard it. 34 Blessed are those who listen to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway. 35 For those who find me find life and receive favor from the LORD. 36 But those who fail to find me harm themselves; all who hate me love death.
》Pray that the Word may become the Conclusion.
1. Jesus Christ is the eternal God who existed before creation. He made all things, including mankind, in unity with the Father. From before time began, He looked with joy upon every life that would one day be born into this world. But today, abortion has become the leading cause of death globally. Let us earnestly pray that this mass killing of unborn children—which crushes God’s joy—would come to an end. Though unseen, the fetus is a human life created by God. Let us pray that everyone would recognize this and choose not to kill. Even in cases of unwanted pregnancy or when raising a child seems impossible, may God give grace so that the child is born and loved.
2. Satan, who stands behind the devaluing and destruction of life, was already judged and defeated at the cross. Let us pray that the Church, which knows this truth, will teach the next generation the priceless value of life—a value greater than all the world—so that they may grow into a holy people who have been saved.
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