African-American Abortion : Pro Choice, Infanticide, Or Genocide? by Brad Lena

The white population in America is in decline. The question for Black Americans is do they wish to accompany them? If the black abortion rate remains constant, it may be inevitable. The Black population in America, according to the 2000 Census, comprised 12.3 % of the population (12.9% if identified as black plus another race.) It is no longer the largest minority having been surpassed by Hispanics in 2000 (5 years sooner than anticipated.) Black American women comprise 13.5 % of the female population in the U.S. but have 34% of all the abortions. Black abortion rates are approximately 2.6 times higher than the white. Most of America's abortions take place in urban areas.

Planned Parenthood, the intellectual and philosophical stepchild of eugenicist and racist Margaret Sanger, has located 78% of their facilities in minority communities. No surprise there. Black pro-life organizations estimate that there have been 15 million fewer black births since Roe v. Wade. By 2038, if current population and immigration trends continue the black vote, a current source of political influence, will become insignificant. There are omens of this trend in the attention the Hispanics are getting from the dominant parties.

Curiously, black politicians, academics and feminists, for the most part, do not appear to have any second thoughts about the abortion rate in their community. Frankly, it reveals a political and social philosophy that has more in common with white European and American intellectuals than the black community.

Are there any racial connotations associated with black abortion? Of course there are, it cannot be otherwise. The racist motivations of the European proponents of eugenics and Americans such as Margaret Sanger and her infamous "Negro Project" are well documented. What of today? Academics and feminists teach black women that their bodies are their own and anything less than absolute autonomy of action is oppressive, exploitive, sexist, constructs of domination, etc. It wasn't always that way. Early white proponents of American feminism, Elizabeth Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, thought abortion and slavery horrific. Stanton proclaimed, "When we consider that women are treated as property, it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we see fit." Anthony referred to abortion as "child-murder." These women were ardent abolitionists and feminists long before it was fashionable. The idea that people could be considered property, in or out of the womb, was repugnant to them. As an aside, noted PBS filmmaker Ken Burns thought it inappropriate to present the lives of these women in its fullness and he censored their vehement opposition to abortion in his documentary entitled Not For Ourselves Alone. An incredulous Nat Hentoff remarked at this unconscionable omission "It was as if a televised life of Dr. Martin Luther King focused entirely on him as a fighter for civil rights without a word about his lifelong commitment to direct-action pacifism as taught by Gandhi and the American minister A.J. Muste, who first - as Dr. King told me - convinced him of the power of nonviolence."

Given the history of eugenics, can an argument be made as to why there shouldn't be more Black Americans that isn't fundamentally racist? The post-slavery accomplishments of American Blacks are remarkable and perhaps unprecedented. Considering the level of white social, political, economic and educational malfeasance it is astounding. So what's the problem? Are there too many black doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, scientists, artists and athletes? White people have too long defined the value of a black life. It is insane for black people to participate in the social engineering agenda of the dominant, albeit fading, culture.

How does it help Black Americans to adopt postmodern definitions of sexuality, family and gender? White intellectuals such as Princeton's Pete Singer do not think a human life is any more valuable than the life of an animal. Black people have intimate experience with that sort of reasoning and should be repulsed by it. Mr. Singer's views on human sexuality include sexual relations, consensual of course, with non-humans. How will it serve the political, economic and social interests of Black Americans to follow the white culture into moral and ethical debasement? How come it seems that no one but Minister Farrakhan is asking these questions openly and challengingly?

At the dawn of the 21st Century, the dominant political and social thought of the white elite, with occasional exceptions, is a variation of Marxism or Socialism with a little eco-theism thrown in. As these philosophies require the reorganization of societies there has been an ongoing systematic assault on family structures.

The black family with its options constrained by social, economic and educational discrimination have had fewer resources with which to resist these assaults and consequently are the most burdened by the resulting social pathologies. The separation of black men and women from one another is, for all intent and purposes, a done deal. It is no accident that at the heart of Minister Farrakhan's initiatives is the healing of this fractured relationship. Abortion goes one step further and separates a black woman from her child to be. These separations are lethal and heinous.

Historically, when one group of people wishes to displace (or exterminate) another group it requires an outlay of capital. The people slated for subjugation usually contribute little more than their demise if they are not to be enslaved. In this case however, the costs pertaining to the infrastructure of the abortion culture has been amortized throughout the society disguising both the eugenics and economics of black abortion. How much money is generated from black abortions? Picking a figure of 1,000,000 abortions a year in the U.S. as our example, the actual number of abortions is somewhat higher, and Black Americans account for say 340,000. This figured multiplied by the average cost per abortion of $300 generates $102,000,000 annually. Every time a black abortion occurs it helps pay the mortgage, the car payment, or the dinner out on the town of its practitioners, promoters and administrators. If these beneficiaries are white, one could almost say it's business as usual, but if they're black it is heartbreaking.

The twin evils of unrestrained promiscuity and abortion are decimating a people on the eve of ever-greater achievements. Between the holocaust of AIDS in Africa and African-American abortion, the words "black death" once referring to the Bubonic Plague has taken on a new and horrifically modern definition. Of all the challenges faced by black people in America, abortion is among the greatest and most destructive. Nothing less than the future of Black Americans may be at stake.

Margaret Sanger must be smiling.

Brad Lena is a regular contributor to BlackElectorate.com. Mr. Lena is based in Asheville, NC and can be reached at blena@mindspring.com

Brad Lena

Thursday, July 18, 2002

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