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kirbygirl87
kirbygirl87Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at 9:11:00 AM EDT
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According to The Root, "Now as more black women seek abortions, the banner has been taken up by some black pro-lifers.
The appeal that pro-lifers are using to reach African Americans: Black babies are on the verge of extinction because African-American women obtain 36.4 percent of all pregnancy terminations in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (That rate is far greater than that of white and Hispanic women, even though blacks make up only 13 percent of the population.)Fifty-one percent of all Americans consider themselves pro-life and 42 percent pro-choice, according to a Gallup poll released in May 2009. The results marked the first time a majority of Americans identified themselves as pro-life since Gallup began taking the poll in 1995. Meanwhile, nearly two-thirds of African Americans polled believe that abortion should never be legal or legal only in cases of rape or incest, or when the mother's life is endangered, according to polling group Zogby International.
So, to be pro-life is to save "black babies" from extinction?
According to The Root, "One of the loudest voices behind that message is that of Davis, whose nonprofit organization is based in Lawrenceville, Ga., a suburb just outside of Atlanta. Like an evangelist, she spreads her anti-abortion message on college campuses and from the pulpits of black churches."
As you can assume many black pro-choice organizations had to weigh in on the subject of "black genocide" with abortion."We're talking about the fact that if people were put on the endangered species list, black children would certainly make the list," she said during a recent telephone interview. "I am not trying to victimize black women. I'm not trying to cast aspersions on my people. I am simply trying to point to the fact that the black community is being targeted by the abortion industry.''
Davis was not ready from the back-lash from the pro-choice community. She was laid off her job earlier that year due to the recession, and the Georgia Right to Life was waiting in the wings for her to spread their message to the black community, seeing as they could not reach them without her one-sided message.
"The billboards are preying on the black community's historical knowledge of womb lynching,'' complained Toni M. Bond Leonard, co-founder, president and chief executive officer of Black Women for Reproductive Justice, a pro-choice organization in Chicago. "I think that is a very evil and dirty game they are playing.''
"I guess I was one of those who believed the African-American community was pro-life,'' Davis said. "I don't understand how anyone can say I am trying to scare people. I am talking about the factual, statistical results of the impact of abortion on the black community. The information I am sharing has been documented, not just by me, but by organization after organization for years.''
Davis is taking her facts from the new documentary, Maafa 21, by the white pro-lifer Mark Crutcher, who created a movie depicting Margaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood Founder, as a racist, plotting to extinguish the African American race by promoting abortion.
Pro-choice advocate, Loretta J. Ross, national coordinator of SisterSong, Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, an Atlanta-based organization, dismissed the claims against Sanger.
According to The Root, "Rev. Hunter said Planned Parenthood has a long history of genocide in the black community. He suggested that health care reform would not be a major issue if abortion were not part of the effort.""She was no genocidal maniac like they are trying to describe her,'' Ross said. "She was committed to women's rights and family planning. She didn't really approve of abortion because she thought they were so dangerous during her time. Yes, she flirted with eugenics, but then denounced it. But she was in the mainstream at the time because 22 states had eugenics laws.''
My Thoughts..."There are some politicians who think the right people are being aborted,'' Hunter said. "There is no way to keep hounding for abortion when you put the majority of the clinics in minority communities. Then you have Planned Parenthood calling themselves health care providers. I don't think of abortion as health care.''
"The message is important, so we are not going to stop trying,'' he said. "We are losing 1,452 children a day to abortions. That means within four days, more blacks have been put to death than the Ku Klux Klan has lynched in the history of this nation.''
It is interesting to see pro-lifers tackle the black community with "scare-tactics" Genocide, Racism, things they know rattle African Americans based on historical complexities. Pro-choice means a lot more than abortion, is about being educated on sexual health and knowing that your body is not the property of others, but it is yours and you should decide what or what doesn't happen to it.
What are your thoughts?
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Interested in talking more about the right-to-life movement’s efforts to appeal to the black community? This, as well as the racial wealth gap in America, are the topics of discussion tonight on WGBH’s Basic Black. You can tune in to the conversation at 7:30 on Channel 2 in Boston or watch online at www.basicblack.org. There will also be a live online chat throughout the show!
I would be interested to hear from these anti-choicers if they know of any Black women who were talked into or forced into having an abortion. Or maybe we could see some studies about what groups have the most access to contraception and information? I have a feeling that might tell us more about what's going on here rather than the scare tactics that the anti-choicers and the right wing in general are so famous for using.