Silent Killer: Abortions in the Black community

By Jesse Muhammad -Staff writer- | Last updated: Aug 23, 2010 - 12:15:48 PM

Photo: MGN Online

HOUSTON (FinalCall.com) - Abortions in the Black community occur 1,425 times a day and thirty-percent of yearly abortions occur to Black women according to research by the Alan Guttmacher Institute.

The CDC reports that abortions have killed more Blacks over the last 30 years than heart disease, cancer, strokes, accidents, diabetes, homicide, and chronic lower respiratory diseases combined.

“I have not been the same since I had my abortion two years ago. I allowed my stupid boyfriend to talk me into doing it because he was too sorry to own up to the responsibility. Yet he didn't mind having sex with me,” Lisa Watson, 21, told The Final Call.

Ms. Watson dropped out of high school and has been working at a local mall in Houston for the last three years.

“Having an abortion messes up your mind. I didn't realize it would haunt me like this and I vowed to never do it again. I hid it from my mother and suffered in silence,” said Ms. Watson.

Dallas resident Felicia Sanders, 24, felt it was the right choice for her.

“I had an abortion at the age of 17 and didn't tell anyone. I felt I wasn't ready for motherhood. I think it depends on the situation and we should not be judged,” she told The Final Call.

The pro-life and pro-choice debate

The Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision of 1973 legalized abortions in America and since then Black women have accounted for between 13-15 million abortions, making them five times more likely to have the procedure than their White counterparts. From 1973 through 2005, more than 45 million legal abortions occurred nationwide.

“Our so-called Black leaders have sold us out. We thought things would be different in this present White House administration but they have continued to support the killing of our babies. It's all about the money,” Day Gardner, president of the National Black Pro-Life Union, told The Final Call.

“Abortions are destroying us as women,” Dr. Alveda King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., told The Final Call.

Ms. King is a pro-life advocate and the director of African-American Outreach for the New York-based Priests for Life ministries. The group galvanizes the clergy to preach, teach, and mobilize to end abortion.

“When I was 19, my doctor gave me an abortion without any explanation. I had a second abortion on my own because I was living a promiscuous life and didn't know any better. The doctors told me it was just lifeless cells, which was and is a total lie,” said Ms. King, 51.

“How can we keep the dream of my uncle alive if we're murdering the children?” asks Ms. King, who now has six children.

“I think we need to stop trying to tell people what they should do with their lives. Those who just talk statistics really don't take the time to get to know the personal situations of these Black women. We believe in trusting our sisters to make the right decision for themselves,” Loretta Ross told The Final Call.

Ms. Ross is national director of SisterSong, an Atlanta-based coalition of 80 organizations that is pro-choice and pro-life and has worked in the community for thirteen years.

“Many who offer critique don't know these women. They try to make it seem like Black women are just having abortions for the fun of it but that's not the truth. Most of the women who have abortions already have children so they know the responsibility it will take to have another. We prefer to trust our sisters and not make them out to be sluts,” said Ms. Ross.

According to Guttmacher Institute, 34 percent of abortions occur to White women, 22 percent to Hispanic women and 8 percent to women of other races. Fifty-percent of U.S. women obtaining abortions are younger than 25. Two-thirds of abortions are by women who have never married.

Are Blacks being targeted?

When analyzing some of the systemic causes of the high Black abortion rate, the finger is pointed at Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the U.S.

According to their Web site, Planned Parenthood operates over 840 health centers across the country which generated over $1 billion in revenue according to their 2007-08 report. They also reported ‘excess of revenue of expenses' of $85 million for the fiscal year along with receiving nearly $350 million in federal government dollars.

Reportedly, 80 percent of their centers are situated in minority communities and pro-life advocates believe this is by design.

“Planned Parenthood goes under the guise of educating the community about sex when in truth they are making millions from the Black community because of these targeted abortions,” said Ms. King, who also founded the King for America organization.

Calls made by The Final Call to the national office of Planned Parenthood and its Houston center were not returned.

In a May 2010 report, the Guttmacher Institute stated that 42 percent of women obtaining abortions live below the federal poverty line. Also 80 percent of women who have abortions have never used a method of birth control. Nonuse is greatest among those who are young, poor, Black, Hispanic or less educated according to the report.

“Planned Parenthood has strategically placed these killing centers in our communities,” said Ms. Gardner.

The founder of Planned Parenthood was Margaret Sanger who developed “The Negro Project” in 1939 as part of a plot to limit the Black population growth with abortions and sterilization.

In the New York University research paper “Birth Control or Race Control? Sanger and the Negro Project,” she is quoted saying “we should hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities. The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We don't want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population.”

“This was a tactic to stop Blacks from having large families. Margaret had a better plan than the Klu Klux Klan and it has worked perfectly even until today. We have to educate the young people with the truth,” said Ms. Gardner.

National Black Pro-Life Union is focused on spreading their pro-life message via speaking tours and pushing documentaries such as Maafa21 which charges that the abortion industry is another form of Black genocide.

The Final Call