By LARRY SMITH
Abortion is one of the most contentious issues in America. My position on abortion is influenced by faith, compassion and practicality. As a Christian minister, I am unapologetically pro-life. While I choose not to spew hyperbolic, hateful and harmful rhetoric, my faith compels me to believe that life begins at conception. Yet, I believe that the 1973 Roe vs. Wade verdict should be maintained — in large part because overturning the law would not result in ending abortions. Rather, it would result in poor women (especially women of color) reverting to methods that were discarded long ago. Upper class women would continue to have access to doctors who perform abortions. In my opinion, abortion should be legal — and prayerfully — rare.
My purpose is not to convince people who are pro-choice to become pro-life. I am writing to highlight the fact that some conservatives (mostly Republicans) are suggesting that abortion is a “racist” plot against African-Americans. For example, proponents of this view point to Margaret Sanger, who founded the organization that became Planned Parenthood. They argue, inaccurately, that Sanger wanted to “eliminate” African-Americans via abortion. While Sanger was a eugenicist (i.e., one who believes that the human population can be “improved” via selective breeding), she did not hope to “eliminate” Black folk. Her supporters included W.E.B. DuBois, Mary McLeod Bethune and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To be clear, Black women have higher abortion rates than women who are white or Hispanic —despite the fact that African-Americans tend to be more socially and religiously conservative than white Americans. According to the Guttmacher Institute, as of 2017, white women ages 15-44 have abortions at a rate of 10 per 1,000 pregnancies, while Hispanic women have a rate of 18.1. By contrast, Black women have a rate of 27.1 abortions per 1,000 pregnancies — nearly triple that of white women. No matter where one is on the political spectrum, this should be cause for alarm.
Unfortunately, this is where political opportunism often creeps in. Some Republicans view these statistics as a chance to align themselves with religious African-Americans (frequently pastors) to condemn the “racist” act of abortion. The problem is that this usually is a thinly-veiled attempt to curry political favor with African-Americans, who overwhelmingly vote for Democrats. If our pro-life friends were genuinely interested in addressing racism, they would attend “Black Lives Matter” marches, be much more visible and vocal when African-Americans are subject to racist taunts and discrimination and support us in the aftermath of unarmed Blacks being shot by police officers. Sadly, they are generally silent in those instances. This lack of solidarity regarding actual racism is perhaps the most important reason that churches remain largely segregated.
And, before anyone’s head explodes regarding my comment about some Republicans, I want to be crystal clear that Democrats have taken the Black vote for granted for decades. As far as I’m concerned, both major political parties have miserably failed African-Americans in recent decades. This leaves us in a tough spot. We can (1) vote for a party that usually writes us off; (2) vote for a party that cares a lot about our votes but not nearly enough about our interests and concerns; (3) vote for a third-party candidate who has virtually no chance of winning, especially in Indiana; or (4) stay home on Election Day. (For the record, I am hopeful that we always reject option 4.) I digress …
I am always in favor of partnering with people of all races and political stripes to decrease the abortion rate. This includes wrapping loving arms around women who are in difficult circumstances, ensuring access to birth control and educating girls and boys about the dangers of non-marital sex. However, I will not support efforts to address “racism” in only a narrow (often manufactured) sense.
