How Abortion Groups Are Hurting Black Communities
A classic liberal strategy of smoke and mirrors that only hurts themselves.
This last week, the group “In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda,” launched a six-figure ad campaign against Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI). The ad included homepage takeovers on the websites of publications like The Hill, Politico and Roll Call. Unfortunately, the ad not only wrongly represents Duffy’s actions and the pro-life message, but shows how little the group understands about how important the pro-life message is for the African American community.
Duffy’s Intent
The abortion group put out the ads against Duffy in response to a speech the Congressman gave on the floor of the House of Representatives back in January. In the speech, Duffy said members of the Congressional Black Caucus were not standing up for black communities when they support abortion rights.
I hear a lot in this institution from minority leaders about how their communities are targeted. But what I don’t hear them talk about is how their communities are targeted in abortion. There is a targeting going on in a lot of spaces and a lot of places, and it is going on in the abortion industry. And my friends, my liberals, Congressional Black Caucus members, talk about fighting for the defenseless, and the hopeless, and the downtrodden. But there is no one more hopeless and voiceless than an unborn baby. But their silence is deafening. I can’t hear them. Where are they standing up for their communities, advocating and fighting for them, their right to life?
A fellow Wisconsinite, Rep. Gwen Moore, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus responded with a proposed bill (this February) aimed at reducing infant mortality. Moore also labeled Duffy a hypocrite, arguing if he truly believed in fighting for the ‘hopeless and voiceless,’ he would support Planned Parenthood.
A Grave Misunderstanding
There are two misunderstandings driving both Congresswoman Moore and “In Our Own Voice.” The first is that abortion is not harmful to communities. Both anecdotal and socio-economic research has shown over the years that abortion is harmful not only (obviously) to babies, but to mothers; consequences that have a ripple effect on the structure of the family, communities and societies at large. There are many devastating effects abortion has on society including high economic costs, psychological and emotional effects on both women and men, and “long-term political consequences.”
In addition, abortion is particularly harmful to the black community.
In 2015, it was reported in New York City, for example, more black babies are aborted than are born.
This in itself is a travesty and harmful not only to the community’s image but sociological infrastructure.
The second, and perhaps larger misunderstanding, is the common logical fallacy among good-intentioned leftists who are truly concerned with helping families: Democrats argue that because Republicans (like Duffy) actively advocate to defund Planned Parenthood, they must not care about the health and well-being of individuals in the black community who depend on said organizations. Nothing could be further from the truth. Per Planned Parenthood’s own annual reports, while health care services that Planned Parenthood offers, like cancer screenings, have steadily declined–from about 2 million per year in 2006 to about 935,000 in 2013– abortions have steadily–you guessed it–increased, from about 290,000 in 2006 to 327,000 in 2013. Planned Parenthood’s main purpose is to abort babies and devastate parents–any other activity is miscellaneous. In fact, conservatives care about helping families, including black communities, as their legislative (among other) efforts have shown.
The Proper Response
If “In Our Own Voice” wanted to effectively help the black community, as is clearly their intent, the group might consider examining what the African American community actually needs and what will actually help them. For example, in September 2015, Duffy authored the “Women’s Public Health and Safety Act” (H.R. 3495) which would, among other things, essentially make it easier to defund Planned Parenthood. The House passed the bill in September. While most liberal black communities decry the defunding of Planned Parenthood–as Moore showed in her statements–saying it hurts lower-income black women (pregnant or not) in need of healthcare, this isn’t the case. As I wrote in this column a few weeks ago, fewer Planned Parenthood facilities does not mean there are fewer options for sound healthcare that helps both mom and baby, should she choose to give birth to her child.
Reports show there are 2,500 (some say up to 4,000) crisis pregnancy centers, a significant increase since the first opened in Maryland in 1980 and more than the number of abortion providers. According to this report, taken only from Heartbeat International’s 1,300 locations in the U.S., 160,000 babies were rescued from the threat of abortion in 2015 alone. That’s not counting the pregnant moms who visited any of the other pregnancy centers unaffiliated with Heartbeat.
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