Last year, the coronavirus pandemic took 1.8 million lives worldwide. Other leading causes of death this past year included cancer (8.2 million), smoking (5.1 million), and alcohol (2.5 million). The combined death toll worldwide in 2020 was 59 million lives. However, this number is not quite accurate, because it ignores another leading cause of death — abortion.

There were 42.6 million abortions worldwide last year. And less than one week into the new year, over 650,000 abortions have already been performed, according to Worldometer. But abortion is not officially recognized as a cause of death and is therefore not included in the worldwide death toll. If it were, last year’s death toll would have surpassed 100 million. Denying that abortion is a cause of death assumes — wrongly — that there was no life for abortion to destroy. This incorrect, unscientific assumption has excused the victimization of babies on a massive scale.

Abortion is another type of pandemic that has been occurring for decades — and has been legal in the United States for the past 48 years. But despite it being responsible for ending the lives of millions, the abortion pandemic has not shut down any nation around the world. Instead of attacking our respiratory systems, abortion degrades our humanity and preys on the most vulnerable of us all — unborn children in the womb. Abortion has a 98 percent death rate, yet we gladly promote it and spread it to other countries.

Since the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, over 60 million children have died due to abortion in the United States. This means millions of American children are missing from generations X, Y, and Z. Thousands of children who ought to have belonged to my generation never took their first steps or graduate high school. They will never get married or have children of their own. Their lives were ended by abortion before they had a chance to begin.

This is a tragedy worth protesting. And each year at the annual March for Life, that is exactly what happens. People from all over the country come to Washington, D.C., to take a stand for life, speak up for the unborn, and grieve those whose cause of death was abortion.

I want to be clear: The coronavirus pandemic is real, and any loss of life is tragic. I am in no way trying to deny or diminish the seriousness of COVID-19. I am merely trying to draw attention to the loss of life that occurs in even greater numbers every day but is never reported on the morning news.

COVID-19 has jeopardized economies, but the abortion industry has created its own economy, one of buying and selling fetal body parts. COVID-19 has caused countries to go into shutdowns with strict regulations, but abortion providers work overtime to stay clear of regulations and be declared “essential.” We wear masks to help decrease the spread of the coronavirus, but abortion hides behind the mask of being a “women’s rights” issue that no woman benefits from in the end. Unlike a virus, the battle against abortion cannot be won with a vaccine. It will take a deep change of heart, a transformation of societal ideals and values — and prayer.

I am one of the children alive post-Roe. And because I am alive, I pray that I do not waste my life but live in such a way as to set an example of what truly valuing all human life looks like. Ronald Reagan once said, “I’ve noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born.” What an ironic truth. It is only those who are still alive that are for or against anything. 

For everyone who has lost a brother, a sister, or a child to abortion, may you be comforted and find healing. For everyone who has willingly participated in abortion, may you repent and find redemption. For everyone who fights on the front lines against abortion each day, may you have courage and endurance. And for all the children who have died due to abortion, may you rest in the peace of Christ.

I am grateful that my parents chose life for me. I am grateful to be alive. I am grateful to all the parents who have chosen life for their children, no matter their circumstances or the various consequences. The March for Life is an important event because it draws attention to this lethal, ongoing pandemic. We must keep marching because lives are on the line. After all, if we do not fight now, then when, and if we do not stand up, then who will?