Black People Culturally Appropriate Abortion
We are historically a culture of life, not death
By Connie Morgan
Black people are consistently used by the political left as a tool to manipulate well-intentioned Americans into submission. If you don’t like the welfare state, you don’t care about black people starving. If you don’t want to forgive student loan debt, you don’t want blacks to financially catch up to whites. If you don’t want people to be fat, you probably hate black bodies. White guilt is a club used to beat people into political corners. Abortion is no exception, but the insult of using black people to promote abortion goes further than subtle racism. The rhetoric used to push abortion as a black necessity is littered with inconsistencies and logical fallacies.
The political left has three main campaigns driving their quest for so-called racial equity. The first, simply put is Black Lives Matter (BLM) both the slogan and the organization. The second could be called “Historical Racism Damnation,” in other words; if it’s ever been linked to racism, tear it down. The third campaign could be called “Western Ideas are White Supremacy,” in other words; spreading western tradition to other cultures is racist and wrong. Abortion may be the best example of ignoring political tenets in order to promote a cause.
Black Lives Matter as a phrase semantically conflicts with pro-abortion fervor. Does black life only matter outside the womb? Black babies are aborted at a far greater rate than any other ethnic group in America. Blacks make up 13% of the U.S. population but make up 38% of aborted babies. Once the largest minority in America, blacks have been surpassed by Hispanics. Estimates vary but the black population in America could be as much as 50% higher today without abortion. If that were the case, blacks would outnumber Hispanics by about 10 million. Ask a white liberal if they think it’s a good thing abortion has kept the black population at bay and watch them twist into ideological knots. At what point does a black life start to matter?
As an organization, BLM states that it is a response to systemic racism. If the racism they highlight is as pervasive as claimed, one might ask: who is more vulnerable to injustice than a Black baby born to a white mother? Black Lives Matter supports abortion on demand for any reason, but does the issue of race-selective abortion raise concerns? It would be interesting to hear from social justice advocates whether they view it as acceptable for a white woman to terminate a pregnancy simply to hide an interracial relationship. Ask a social justice warrior if it's a good thing white women can kill their black baby so daddy won’t find out they slept with a black boy and watch them twist into ideological knots.
Historical racism equals damnation to the political left; statues must be torn down and buildings must be renamed. To be fair, the pro-choice left has recently been more honest when it comes to the racist roots of abortion. In 2020, Planned Parenthood announced they were removing Margaret Sanger’s name from their center over her racist legacy. Getting rid of her name is a nice gesture but I hear no calls for Planned Parenthood buildings to be moved or torn down. This despite Sanger’s legacy perpetuated in the 86% of Planned Parenthood abortion facilities located in minority neighborhoods.
Is it not incredibly racist to claim society is better off when minority women abort their babies as Margaret Sanger claimed? The assumption that black women need abortion to get ahead, whereas white women don’t is beyond offensive. The implication is either black women aren’t capable of controlling our sexual urges as well as white women, we are too stupid or poor to use contraception or we are not capable of dealing with an unplanned baby the way white women are.
Ask a black progressive why black women should kill their babies more than white women and watch them twist into ideological knots. And I challenge anyone to bring me one iota of data showing the lives of black women have improved due to abortion. If abortion was a ticket to monetary prosperity black women would be the financial leaders of this country.
As Dr. Delores Grier said in 1989:
“Black women never demonstrated, demanded or even requested the right to an abortion. We’ve been asking for the right to decent housing, the right to education, in fact the right to health care…And all we’ve been given, free of charge, is the right to kill our unborn child.”
Dr. Grier points out that if a black woman asked for medical care but did not have insurance she would be turned away but if she wanted an abortion without insurance she would be given one for free no questions asked. Is this not reflective of a history of systemic racism? Is it possible that more black than white women abort their babies not by coincidence but by design?
And this brings me to the third racial justice campaign of the political left, “western ideas are white supremacy.” Hard work and being on time are western ideas that shouldn’t be promoted to black communities who have their own cultures and customs. If western culture shouldn’t be put upon blacks this creates a major problem for abortion advocates.
Abortion is not historically a popular idea among black Americans or Africans. It is only when indoctrinated in western thought that black people begin aborting their babies. When looking at global abortion trends, the African continent is far behind westernized countries. Today, the vast majority of women in sub-Saharan Africa live where abortion is moderately or severely restricted. Usually abortions are only performed for the health of the mother. The abortion rate in the United States of 195 abortions per 1,000 live births is nearly six times the African rate of 33 abortions per 1,000 live births.
According to social science research, Africans place a higher value on parenthood and children compared to those living in industrialized countries. “It takes a village to raise a child” is an African saying. Africans have an entire social structure designed around assisting each other in the raising of children. Author Mwalimu K. Bomani Baruti says it this way:
“Along with the depth of our spiritual connectedness, Afrikans are the most family/child-centered people on the planet. We place nothing above our children, except that which will bring them into existence and allow us to rear them in the way of our Ancestors.”
Polling data on abortion opinion in Africa is almost non-existent but one study found that over 75% of South Africans (arguably the most westernized country in Africa) thought abortion “always wrong” in the case of family poverty and over half of South Africans still thought abortion “always wrong” as a response to fetal anomaly. This isn’t just about access, many Africans simply do not support abortion.
Despite polling, cultural cues, and abortion statistics showing that much of Africa is not supportive of abortion, the Gates Foundation has committed hundreds of millions of dollars to so-called family planning initiatives with the explicit goal of increasing access to abortion. In response to the western push for abortion in Africa, a non-profit organization called Culture of Life Africa was formed. Among other actions, they released a video pleading with Joe Biden to stop funding abortion in Africa. Yet, I don’t see widespread criticism from the left about this modern form of colonization led by figures like Gates and Biden. As Culture of Life Africa founder Obianuju Ekeocha has said:
“We are thirsty and they give us condoms! We are hungry and they offer us contraceptive pills! We are sick and they offer us the most modern techniques of abortion! We are naked and they lead us into the arms of sexual hedonism! We are imprisoned by poverty and they offer us sexual liberation! Silent tears roll down for Africa in a modern world that can neither see our pain nor hear our cry for help.”
Ask a leftist if the west needs to change indigenous people’s tradition of life to one of abortion and watch them twist into ideological knots.
No matter where you fall on the abortion debate let’s be honest about the tactics being used in the town square. Black people are a political tool used to push whatever agenda is currently at the top of the headlines and right now it is abortion. When it comes to pro-choice rhetoric, leftist philosophies are thrown out the window in order to push an agenda on the coattails of white guilt. If you want legalized abortion just say it, don’t pretend it’s not at odds with promoting black life, not without historical shame or in line with values traditionally held by those of African descent.
Connie Morgan is a Christian, wife, and mother located in the Pacific Northwest. She has a background in economics and public relations and has worked in higher ed and marketing. She served five years in the United States military as a military intelligence officer. Her main research and writing interests are the family, education, and personal liberty generally. Connie is a founding member of Free Black Thought. She is the regular host of the Free Black Thought Podcast. She tweets here.
