If your point is, the left is hypocritical and racist… I agree with you.
But, you seem to think that black Africans and, therefore, black Americans have a vital, life-focused culture. The evidence for that is not compelling in the behavior of either culture. Black Americans, in particular, kill all ages, from the unborn to the aged, disproportionately BECAUSE THEY WANT TO. Black Americans kill as they wish, of their own free will, despite the wishes of whites, not because of white Western imposition.
Of that video, there are tens of her “type” at every pro-abortion rally.
Historically, black Americans were deeply life-focused. Our families were often closer-knit than white families, despite the systemic racism that existed at the time. The same can be said for Africans and, really, most if not all indigenous societies. Life was valued, and abortion was an unthinkable concept. However, this is no longer the case today. As you pointed out, many black Americans have moved away from a culture-of-life mentality. That said, this is not the case if you visit a random off-the-grid African tribe.
You added "white" in front of "Western Imposition," not us. Western culture today is not solely a white construct; black people, along with other ethnic groups, have contributed to what is modern Western culture. The point of Connie's argument is that if the left's stance is that colonization is bad and indigenous traditions should be preserved, then the left should reject abortion for black people at a minimum. After all, Africa, the origin continent for most black Americans, remains, to this day, likely the most pro-life continent on the planet, according to the limited data available. Furthermore, if cultural appropriation is defined as adopting morals and practices that are not part of one's ancestral history, then aborting black babies en masse could be considered cultural appropriation.
Abortion has never been "unthinkable", only women having control over their own fertility has. If you don't want black babies (or babies of any color) aborted, convince the women of all races to use birth control.
This is an article that explains why ob-gyn’s cannot ethically help write exceptions into abortion laws because it ignores abortion access for all. It doesn’t matter that the women in question have life threatening conditions that mandate abortions, and the other women do not. Every abortion is life-saving, they say, because childbirth is 14x as dangerous as abortion.
“Limiting access to abortion care by means of exclusionary lists exacerbates health injustices and disproportionately harms disenfranchised and marginalized patients, since more privileged patients are more likely to have timely access to care and to be able to travel for abortion care.”
The focus is on the marginalized. It is ostensibly kindness, but this is applying pressure to those least able to withstand it. Instead of focusing on women with life threatening conditions in states that have abortion bans, they are concerned about the marginalized having access to abortion.
If one accounts for income and education, then blacks are no more likely than whites to commit murder. Middle-class blacks don't murder any more than middle-class whites. And the modern inner-city criminal gang wasn't developed by blacks, but by Irish, German and Italian Americans.
There are something like 9 ZIP codes that account for the majority of murders in the United States. Washington D.C., New Orleans, Detroit, Philadelphia, a couple in Chicago, New York. Remove those specific ZIP codes from crime statistics, and the United States is less violent than most of Western Europe.
The question remains why are black and Hispanic Americans more likely to be trapped in bad, crime-ridden neighborhoods with crappy public schools?
And, of course, the prevailing popular culture (mostly run by white leftists) promotes gangster culture as the only "authentically" black cultural expression, from films to music. (Gangsta rap is largely marketed to suburban whites seeking that "street authenticity.)
It was also the white left that imposed eligibility standards on welfare in the 1960s that dictated only single mothers could qualify for assistance - not whole families. The U.S. government, from the Johnson's Great Society programs until the welfare reform of the 1990s, basically bribed poor - disproportionately black (and Hispanic) - me to abandon their children and their children's mothers so their kids could eat.
The premise was a man should find work - but in the 1960s in most liberal Northern cities, a black man had a harder time finding a job than an equally qualified white man.
And yet, up until the 2000s, black Americans were far more likely to oppose abortion than whites, if the public opinion polls of the time are to be believed.
But teachers unions have been pushing a pro-abortion message on public school students for three generations now, and so - tragically - black opinion on abortion today is about the same as white.
Those of us who oppose the violence of abortion have much work to do. Simply imposing laws the public does not support will not suffice - we have to change hearts, and that's hard work.
If men would just wear condoms, then men like Jim would never have to worry about women aborting their babies again. But that would be too much to ask, right?
Utilizing data from the Gun Violence Archive and American Community Survey, the researchers found that, among middle class neighborhoods, the rate of gun homicides is more than four times higher in neighborhoods with mostly Black residents than neighborhoods with mostly white residents.
I'm not buying what you're selling. Next thing you'll be telling me that black female circumcisions are acceptable if that is what the girl's family wants.
The author is a Christian who clearly believes that abortion is morally wrong. She does not imply in any sense that every custom existing on the African continent (though female circumcision is practiced in only some African countries) should be preserved.
Yeah, it wasn't that long ago that abortion was not nearly as partisan of an issue, and that allowed plenty of pro-life black people to feel OK voting Democrat. But now that it's practically as cleanly partisan of an issue as there is, the presence of black pro-life people in the Democratic Party can't be long for this world.
"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."
This white liberal is anti-the BLM movement, so this argument doesn't resonate. There is no moral salience in keeping the black population in this country above a certain percentage at all times. The right for women to access abortion is correct regardless of her race.
"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."
My opinions on such things ultimately don't matter - as a rule, a woman has a right to an abortion even if *I*, as someone who has zero knowledge of the woman's life and situation, disagrees with her reason. No ideological knots needed!
"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."
Straw-man. Nobody in the pro-choice movement is making these arguments.
"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."
If you're claiming that abortion does not help improve the financial wellbeing of black women, please provide evidence that access to abortion has specifically caused black women's financial situations to deteriorate, not just a correlation.
"“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.”"
These requests are not incompatible. And access to healthcare overall has undeniably improved thanks to the ACA.
"“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.”"
Bullshit. This kind of pan-Africanism, like pan-Indianism, is extremely oversimplified and ahistorical, and is "sun people vs. ice people" racism of the highest order.
"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."
Access to abortion is good regardless of public opinion. If people don't want abortion in a place where it's legal, they don't have to have one!
"This kind of pan-Africanism, like pan-Indianism, is extremely oversimplified and ahistorical, and is "sun people vs. ice people" racism of the highest order." Amen. Acting like black women could Never Ever want an abortion is naive at best and ludicrous at worst.
“Straw man”: Of course they’re not making those kind of arguments. They’re not palatable. Begs the question of unstated motivations. You guys have no difficulty finding those everywhere you look when critiquing conservative movements.
There’s a larger argument that the abortion culture is not indigenous anywhere but is being imposed by indoctrination of all people groups.
Look at Mr. Masters' reply above - the idea that absolutely no human being on Earth, in their heart of hearts, doesn't want abortions or want anyone else to have them seems ludicrous to me. What evidence do you have of that? And if that truly is the case, why would some shadowy cabal of elites seek to indoctrinate everyone into thinking abortions are good?
The Left, such as it is in this country, likes to warn us about "dog whistles" from the right - coded language that communicates an unspoken fear to a specific demographic. And yet, Planned Parenthood loves to warn us that "unwanted" babies are bound to grow up to be gang bangers and thugs.
If that's not a dog whistle to members of the white, ruling class ...
We can also look at the neighborhoods where Planned Parenthood locates its abortion mills to get a feeling for which unborn babies they're most interested in getting rid of.
Planned Parenthood provides services. It doesn't force anyone into anything. If you're so concerned about aborting black babies, maybe convince the women carrying them not to do it, rather than assuming the Evil "White Ruling Class" is tricking them into it via Planned Parenthood.
There's nothing wrong with women having different opinions, especially on an issue as contentious as abortion. Women are more than capable of making up their own minds and in doing so disagree with each other. Believing that some women who are anti-abortion are wrong is not sexist.
It's when people - no matter their sex - try to force women into not having abortions that it becomes wrong. Same with anyone trying to force women into having an abortion (like China's one child policy). People have a right to bodily autonomy whether they're carrying potential people inside them or not. Because without a developed brain and nervous system, that potential person is just a vegetable made out of meat.
As for women who oppose abortion, either use birth control or insist your male partner(s) wear a condom. You are only in control of one woman's body - your own, and nobody else's.
I have argued some of the same points. If Democrats are trying to keep the black population down, there is no better way of doing so than to promote abortion.
Did someone say otherwise? Because it appears you're the one thinking that, not me. I'd prefer no one kills their own child, but even more that black women not do so at the rate of almost 5 times more often than white women. However, they can assist the Democratic Party's goal if they wish.
I had several questions as I was reading this and taking in all of the arguments:
1. Do minority women have abortions because Planned Parenthood opened centers in minority neighborhoods or does Planned Parenthood move to minority neighborhoods because minority women have more difficulty getting all types of pregnancy care easily and affordably (including abortion in "care" even if that is disputed)? This isn't rhetoric - I don't actually know the answer.
2. Is abortion Planned Parenthood's main function? How much of their services are for pre- and post-natal care for women who keep their babies? By moving into minority neighborhoods is PP's goal to cause minority women to have more abortions?
3. Ms. Morgan poses the question, "Who is more vulnerable to injustice than a Black baby born to a white mother?" Does this scenario account for a high number of abortions of black babies? What percentage of abortions of black babies are done by white mothers, whetherr or not it was to avoid someone finding out the father is black?
4. Do black women not have agency in choosing abortion? Are we to think they are manipulated by white progressive forces to do so?
5. "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." If a Black woman asked for pre-natal care but did not have insurance would she get it?
6. I understand Culture of Life Africa founder Obianuju Ekeocha's upset with the Western imposition of abortion on Africa, bur why does he lump contraception in with it? One of the major reasons for condom awareness campaigns in various African countries is/was the spread of AIDs, particularly to vulnerable young women. I don't see the problem with this. I also don't see why Africans should not have access to contraception in order to plan when they have children.
What Obianuju Ekeocha means is that it is ridiculous to focus on providing contraceptives and abortion to people who need clean water, food and basic healthcare.
Why not contraceptives AND clean water, food and basic healthcare. Isn't contraception basic healthcare, especially for women and especially during an AIDS crisis?
If you reread Ekeocha's words in the article, she is saying that contraception and abortion are funded *instead of* food, basic healthcare etc.: “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!"
Obviously there are groups providing food etc. What she means is that the West focuses too much on contraception and abortion access in Africa, though the continent continues to struggle with hunger, lack of access to clean water etc. In this video made by Ekeocha one can hear lots of African women who say very similar things https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zymBhgUqoh4&t=2s .
There is a novel by the Ghanaian author Ama Ata Aidoo where a character points out that it is easier to access contraceptives than routine medications in African hospitals and clinics. And she adds: "the givers like one thing very much now: that there should not be too many of us".
It is obvious that many Westerners see the high birth rate in Africa as a threat for the West and as the source of Africa's problems, so the preoccupation with providing access to contraception and abortion in Africa is far from being innocent.
Anecdotes are not data. Are you aware of any studies that demonstrate Africans are receiving more contraception than other forms of aid?
"And she adds: "the givers like one thing very much now: that there should not be too many of us"."
Again, if there is no concrete evidence showing aid organizations in the West are conspiring to engage in secret eugenics programs in Africa, this reads as nothing more than paranoia, and rules out far more innocuous reasons why contraception is easier to access (to the extent it truly is).
And when it comes to AIDS and condoms: men are not necessarily going to use condoms, especially with their wives or girlfriends. Condoms are not a solution to the AIDS epidemic.
If you want to decrease the number of black babies aborted, maybe teach black women that they should use birth control if they don't want any more kids? It's not rocket science.
Maybe I’ve not been a good political student or social scientist, but I really haven’t seen abortion as a mainstream issue among African-Americans other than to be in solidarity with the overall women’s rights movement. It’s about choice of, a right to, not a dedication to. Most don’t let the disengenuous Christian nationalist pro-life rhetoric go by without the proper sideways glance.
https://grabien.com/file?id=102620
“kill all the white babies”
Disgusting. We love black and white babies. Culture of LIFE. And this means life for all.
Not convinced.
If your point is, the left is hypocritical and racist… I agree with you.
But, you seem to think that black Africans and, therefore, black Americans have a vital, life-focused culture. The evidence for that is not compelling in the behavior of either culture. Black Americans, in particular, kill all ages, from the unborn to the aged, disproportionately BECAUSE THEY WANT TO. Black Americans kill as they wish, of their own free will, despite the wishes of whites, not because of white Western imposition.
Of that video, there are tens of her “type” at every pro-abortion rally.
Not convinced.
Historically, black Americans were deeply life-focused. Our families were often closer-knit than white families, despite the systemic racism that existed at the time. The same can be said for Africans and, really, most if not all indigenous societies. Life was valued, and abortion was an unthinkable concept. However, this is no longer the case today. As you pointed out, many black Americans have moved away from a culture-of-life mentality. That said, this is not the case if you visit a random off-the-grid African tribe.
You added "white" in front of "Western Imposition," not us. Western culture today is not solely a white construct; black people, along with other ethnic groups, have contributed to what is modern Western culture. The point of Connie's argument is that if the left's stance is that colonization is bad and indigenous traditions should be preserved, then the left should reject abortion for black people at a minimum. After all, Africa, the origin continent for most black Americans, remains, to this day, likely the most pro-life continent on the planet, according to the limited data available. Furthermore, if cultural appropriation is defined as adopting morals and practices that are not part of one's ancestral history, then aborting black babies en masse could be considered cultural appropriation.
Abortion has never been "unthinkable", only women having control over their own fertility has. If you don't want black babies (or babies of any color) aborted, convince the women of all races to use birth control.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2306450
This is an article that explains why ob-gyn’s cannot ethically help write exceptions into abortion laws because it ignores abortion access for all. It doesn’t matter that the women in question have life threatening conditions that mandate abortions, and the other women do not. Every abortion is life-saving, they say, because childbirth is 14x as dangerous as abortion.
“Limiting access to abortion care by means of exclusionary lists exacerbates health injustices and disproportionately harms disenfranchised and marginalized patients, since more privileged patients are more likely to have timely access to care and to be able to travel for abortion care.”
The focus is on the marginalized. It is ostensibly kindness, but this is applying pressure to those least able to withstand it. Instead of focusing on women with life threatening conditions in states that have abortion bans, they are concerned about the marginalized having access to abortion.
If one accounts for income and education, then blacks are no more likely than whites to commit murder. Middle-class blacks don't murder any more than middle-class whites. And the modern inner-city criminal gang wasn't developed by blacks, but by Irish, German and Italian Americans.
There are something like 9 ZIP codes that account for the majority of murders in the United States. Washington D.C., New Orleans, Detroit, Philadelphia, a couple in Chicago, New York. Remove those specific ZIP codes from crime statistics, and the United States is less violent than most of Western Europe.
The question remains why are black and Hispanic Americans more likely to be trapped in bad, crime-ridden neighborhoods with crappy public schools?
And, of course, the prevailing popular culture (mostly run by white leftists) promotes gangster culture as the only "authentically" black cultural expression, from films to music. (Gangsta rap is largely marketed to suburban whites seeking that "street authenticity.)
It was also the white left that imposed eligibility standards on welfare in the 1960s that dictated only single mothers could qualify for assistance - not whole families. The U.S. government, from the Johnson's Great Society programs until the welfare reform of the 1990s, basically bribed poor - disproportionately black (and Hispanic) - me to abandon their children and their children's mothers so their kids could eat.
The premise was a man should find work - but in the 1960s in most liberal Northern cities, a black man had a harder time finding a job than an equally qualified white man.
And yet, up until the 2000s, black Americans were far more likely to oppose abortion than whites, if the public opinion polls of the time are to be believed.
But teachers unions have been pushing a pro-abortion message on public school students for three generations now, and so - tragically - black opinion on abortion today is about the same as white.
Those of us who oppose the violence of abortion have much work to do. Simply imposing laws the public does not support will not suffice - we have to change hearts, and that's hard work.
If men would just wear condoms, then men like Jim would never have to worry about women aborting their babies again. But that would be too much to ask, right?
Utilizing data from the Gun Violence Archive and American Community Survey, the researchers found that, among middle class neighborhoods, the rate of gun homicides is more than four times higher in neighborhoods with mostly Black residents than neighborhoods with mostly white residents.
https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/regardless-socioeconomic-status-black-communities-face-higher-gun-homicides-says-wharton-study
This woman sounds as if she had serious mental health issues.
Thank you for this. Very informative.
Love your work, so clear sighted.
I'm not buying what you're selling. Next thing you'll be telling me that black female circumcisions are acceptable if that is what the girl's family wants.
Well, if those girls weren't circumcised/FGM'd, they might become promiscuous and then abort all the babies they conceive!
The author is a Christian who clearly believes that abortion is morally wrong. She does not imply in any sense that every custom existing on the African continent (though female circumcision is practiced in only some African countries) should be preserved.
From what culture was black female circumcision appropriated?
In other words, is that indigenous?
Yeah, it wasn't that long ago that abortion was not nearly as partisan of an issue, and that allowed plenty of pro-life black people to feel OK voting Democrat. But now that it's practically as cleanly partisan of an issue as there is, the presence of black pro-life people in the Democratic Party can't be long for this world.
"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."
This white liberal is anti-the BLM movement, so this argument doesn't resonate. There is no moral salience in keeping the black population in this country above a certain percentage at all times. The right for women to access abortion is correct regardless of her race.
"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."
My opinions on such things ultimately don't matter - as a rule, a woman has a right to an abortion even if *I*, as someone who has zero knowledge of the woman's life and situation, disagrees with her reason. No ideological knots needed!
"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."
Straw-man. Nobody in the pro-choice movement is making these arguments.
"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."
If you're claiming that abortion does not help improve the financial wellbeing of black women, please provide evidence that access to abortion has specifically caused black women's financial situations to deteriorate, not just a correlation.
"“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.”"
These requests are not incompatible. And access to healthcare overall has undeniably improved thanks to the ACA.
"“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.”"
Bullshit. This kind of pan-Africanism, like pan-Indianism, is extremely oversimplified and ahistorical, and is "sun people vs. ice people" racism of the highest order.
"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."
Access to abortion is good regardless of public opinion. If people don't want abortion in a place where it's legal, they don't have to have one!
"This kind of pan-Africanism, like pan-Indianism, is extremely oversimplified and ahistorical, and is "sun people vs. ice people" racism of the highest order." Amen. Acting like black women could Never Ever want an abortion is naive at best and ludicrous at worst.
Have you watched the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zymBhgUqoh4 mentioned by the author where many Africans (mostly women) say that they are against abortion?
Thank you for this!
You are very welcome!
“Straw man”: Of course they’re not making those kind of arguments. They’re not palatable. Begs the question of unstated motivations. You guys have no difficulty finding those everywhere you look when critiquing conservative movements.
There’s a larger argument that the abortion culture is not indigenous anywhere but is being imposed by indoctrination of all people groups.
Look at Mr. Masters' reply above - the idea that absolutely no human being on Earth, in their heart of hearts, doesn't want abortions or want anyone else to have them seems ludicrous to me. What evidence do you have of that? And if that truly is the case, why would some shadowy cabal of elites seek to indoctrinate everyone into thinking abortions are good?
A very interesting and thought provoking article. However Black Africans and Black Americans seem to have different cultures.
Preach!
The Left, such as it is in this country, likes to warn us about "dog whistles" from the right - coded language that communicates an unspoken fear to a specific demographic. And yet, Planned Parenthood loves to warn us that "unwanted" babies are bound to grow up to be gang bangers and thugs.
If that's not a dog whistle to members of the white, ruling class ...
We can also look at the neighborhoods where Planned Parenthood locates its abortion mills to get a feeling for which unborn babies they're most interested in getting rid of.
Planned Parenthood provides services. It doesn't force anyone into anything. If you're so concerned about aborting black babies, maybe convince the women carrying them not to do it, rather than assuming the Evil "White Ruling Class" is tricking them into it via Planned Parenthood.
How about letting each woman make her own decision? Or do you want to force women to have babies at the point of a gun?
Here are some further thoughts on this topic:
https://dente.substack.com/p/abortion-for-men?r=25gwo2
Letting women made their own decisions is anathema to many men, no matter what color they are or what side of the political process they're on.
This has a sexist feel to it. You think women are incapable of opposing abortion? Take a look at the author.
There's nothing wrong with women having different opinions, especially on an issue as contentious as abortion. Women are more than capable of making up their own minds and in doing so disagree with each other. Believing that some women who are anti-abortion are wrong is not sexist.
It's when people - no matter their sex - try to force women into not having abortions that it becomes wrong. Same with anyone trying to force women into having an abortion (like China's one child policy). People have a right to bodily autonomy whether they're carrying potential people inside them or not. Because without a developed brain and nervous system, that potential person is just a vegetable made out of meat.
As for women who oppose abortion, either use birth control or insist your male partner(s) wear a condom. You are only in control of one woman's body - your own, and nobody else's.
I have argued some of the same points. If Democrats are trying to keep the black population down, there is no better way of doing so than to promote abortion.
And black women have no agency here? How infantilizing to think that.
Did someone say otherwise? Because it appears you're the one thinking that, not me. I'd prefer no one kills their own child, but even more that black women not do so at the rate of almost 5 times more often than white women. However, they can assist the Democratic Party's goal if they wish.
I had several questions as I was reading this and taking in all of the arguments:
1. Do minority women have abortions because Planned Parenthood opened centers in minority neighborhoods or does Planned Parenthood move to minority neighborhoods because minority women have more difficulty getting all types of pregnancy care easily and affordably (including abortion in "care" even if that is disputed)? This isn't rhetoric - I don't actually know the answer.
2. Is abortion Planned Parenthood's main function? How much of their services are for pre- and post-natal care for women who keep their babies? By moving into minority neighborhoods is PP's goal to cause minority women to have more abortions?
3. Ms. Morgan poses the question, "Who is more vulnerable to injustice than a Black baby born to a white mother?" Does this scenario account for a high number of abortions of black babies? What percentage of abortions of black babies are done by white mothers, whetherr or not it was to avoid someone finding out the father is black?
4. Do black women not have agency in choosing abortion? Are we to think they are manipulated by white progressive forces to do so?
5. "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." If a Black woman asked for pre-natal care but did not have insurance would she get it?
6. I understand Culture of Life Africa founder Obianuju Ekeocha's upset with the Western imposition of abortion on Africa, bur why does he lump contraception in with it? One of the major reasons for condom awareness campaigns in various African countries is/was the spread of AIDs, particularly to vulnerable young women. I don't see the problem with this. I also don't see why Africans should not have access to contraception in order to plan when they have children.
What Obianuju Ekeocha means is that it is ridiculous to focus on providing contraceptives and abortion to people who need clean water, food and basic healthcare.
Why not contraceptives AND clean water, food and basic healthcare. Isn't contraception basic healthcare, especially for women and especially during an AIDS crisis?
If you reread Ekeocha's words in the article, she is saying that contraception and abortion are funded *instead of* food, basic healthcare etc.: “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!"
I think Ekeocha is lying - there are no shortage of groups providing food, healthcare, etc. to impoverished areas of sub-Saharan Africa.
Obviously there are groups providing food etc. What she means is that the West focuses too much on contraception and abortion access in Africa, though the continent continues to struggle with hunger, lack of access to clean water etc. In this video made by Ekeocha one can hear lots of African women who say very similar things https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zymBhgUqoh4&t=2s .
There is a novel by the Ghanaian author Ama Ata Aidoo where a character points out that it is easier to access contraceptives than routine medications in African hospitals and clinics. And she adds: "the givers like one thing very much now: that there should not be too many of us".
It is obvious that many Westerners see the high birth rate in Africa as a threat for the West and as the source of Africa's problems, so the preoccupation with providing access to contraception and abortion in Africa is far from being innocent.
Anecdotes are not data. Are you aware of any studies that demonstrate Africans are receiving more contraception than other forms of aid?
"And she adds: "the givers like one thing very much now: that there should not be too many of us"."
Again, if there is no concrete evidence showing aid organizations in the West are conspiring to engage in secret eugenics programs in Africa, this reads as nothing more than paranoia, and rules out far more innocuous reasons why contraception is easier to access (to the extent it truly is).
Have you ever been to Africa, James?
I don't need to have traveled there to have an informed opinion. If you honestly believe this line of inquiry is effective, you're sadly mistaken.
Great question!
And when it comes to AIDS and condoms: men are not necessarily going to use condoms, especially with their wives or girlfriends. Condoms are not a solution to the AIDS epidemic.
If you want to decrease the number of black babies aborted, maybe teach black women that they should use birth control if they don't want any more kids? It's not rocket science.
Maybe I’ve not been a good political student or social scientist, but I really haven’t seen abortion as a mainstream issue among African-Americans other than to be in solidarity with the overall women’s rights movement. It’s about choice of, a right to, not a dedication to. Most don’t let the disengenuous Christian nationalist pro-life rhetoric go by without the proper sideways glance.
Margret Sanger and Feminism start there.
Margret Sanger and Feminism start there.