I woke up this morning to hear a new attack on women’s reproductive freedom…billboards have gone up around Georgia stating that black babies are an endangered species.
Yikes! What a disgusting ad…the antis are really desperate, aren’t they?
On MSNBC this morning, the pro-billboard woman was stating that black women are targeted for abortion and that abortion is affecting their fertility rate. Ugh-idiots! Seriously, this is the most ridiculous thing I have heard a in a long time. First of all, women make a choice to come in to the clinic to seek abortion services. We are not out on the streets soliciting women for abortions. Second, let us not forget that women who have abortions are usually mothers already-having already contributed to that fertility rate.
Unfortunately, for the Right to Life Georgia group, there is no data to support their outrageous claims. The CDC reports that Black women have higher than the national fertility rate (births per 1000 women in reproductive age) and it has gone up over the years.
The amazing executive director of Sister Song was quoted in the NY times saying “The reason we have so many Planned Parenthoods in the black community is because leaders in the black community in the ’20s and ’30s went to Margaret Sanger and asked for them,” Ms. Ross said. “Controlling our fertility was part of our uplift out of poverty strategy, and it still works.”
Hey anti-choicers, way to shame black women for the choices they make. By putting a message out there that black babies are “endangered species” you are sending a message to black woman that by having an abortion they are, in essence, committing a grave crime against their "species." You are sick. We are women, not baby-making factories.
Perhaps we can flip this message. Like Sister Song said, controlling one’s fertility-either through contraception access or abortion-is a way to lift women out of poverty. By putting this message out there, targeting black women, you want to keep the cycle of poverty going by decreasing their access and shaming black women, their families, and their communities.
Wow, antis, you must be so proud.
Picture from NY Times
Yeah, can we also talk about how "species" is not a word you use to refer to categories of humans? As far as I know, Homo sapiens is all one species and none of us are on the World Wildlife Fund's watchlist. How insulting!
ReplyDeleteAlso, how to break your heart: take that insinuation that black women are either committing genocide or failing to protect their "children" from it, and compare it to the hundreds of patients at the clinic who talked about their struggle to protect the wellbeing of their children/families from the effects of an unplanned birth.
You know what's funny, about demographics?
ReplyDelete(1) The total fertility rate of WHITE women is lower than any other ethnic/racial group, and funnily enough these racial-fearmongering billboard assholes have counterparts who like to say "WHITE people are an endangered species [and it's all because of abortion/birth control/feminism/etc]".
(2) As these "endangered" black children grow up, their population suffers tremendously from the loss of its adult males to the criminal "justice" system, yet I have never seen the people behind this billboard make a peep about that.
The "Radiance Foundation" is all touchy-feely-positive about the value of lives but their "ways to get involved" are "PRAY. DONATE. SPREAD THE WORD." and that's it. Their "race relations" work consists of a scary-sounding speaking tour: it claims to incorporate the words of MLK and Tim Wise but also Star Parker and Shelby Steele, with topics like "The Boy Who Cried Discrimination" and Black Liberation Theology – does it liberate?". Ughhh.
Anyway, I thought this woman's post on it was really good: http://www.thenewblackwoman.com/2010/02/anti-abortion-group-targets-black-women.html
I wish these antis would at least TRY to use common sense. If they'd look at numbers, they'd find that African American people have higher pregnancy rates. Higher pregnancy rates = higher abortion rates. NO DUH.
ReplyDeleteAlso, they claim to be against racism and then go on to say that African Americans are a different species. W.T.F.
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ReplyDeleteI had never heard that about black leaders of the 20s and 30s approaching PP and requesting more facilities. Can I get a source for that?
ReplyDeleteOf course the antis like to go off spouting about Sanger and her eugenicism and then play this make-believe game like she is still alive and the director of abortion services or something. Maybe that is what kept me from typing "Sanger Abortion Blacks" into my google search.
I am appalled that my state allowed such racist BS to be shown so publicly. Of course this state also plasters the road signs with "Get Married. Stay Married. For the children."
As for the source, I'm not sure. It was a direct quote from the ED of SisterSong...but I would bet to say she knows what she is talking about.
ReplyDelete