Abortion: Legal Racism in Abundance

Earlier this year, progressives in Virginia and New York made headlines when they proposed extreme pro-abortion legislation designed to grant more opportunities to prospective mothers who wish to terminate their pregnancies. These actions prompted a fierce backlash from the pro-life crowd, who feared that other states might follow suit. Several states, including Georgia and Alabama, passed laws imposing more restrictions on abortion. Predictably, the Democrats and their friends in the establishment media have spent the past two weeks blasting these states, claiming that they are violating the rights of women. Many gave the usual deflections, saying that abortion is about the woman’s body, not the child. But others have made a rather curious claim: Limiting abortions is racist because it would disproportionately impact black women.

An Ohio state lawmaker even attempted to push an amendment to a Heartbeat Bill that would exempt black babies from the protections provided by the legislation. Why is the pro-abortion crowd so adamant about ensuring that black mothers can more easily kill their children?

Pro-Abortion Crowd Targets Blacks

During the hubbub over the passage of pro-life legislation, several news outlets complained that further restrictions on abortion would affect black women. Vox’s Renee Bracey Sherman wrote a piece claiming that, “Recent abortion bans will impact poor people and people of color most.” In an article for The New York Times, Jamelle Bouie argued: “And when it comes to medical care and reproductive health, black women are particularly disadvantaged, with far worse outcomes than their white counterparts. There’s no question that these laws will lead to the criminalization of black and brown women above and beyond what already exists.”

Progressives’ eagerness to promote abortion among black Americans has caused widespread devastation in the community and impeded increases in the black population. The Center for Disease Control found that almost half of black pregnancies end in abortion. On average, 1,876 black babies are aborted daily. The Center for Urban Renewal and Education estimated that about 20,350,000 black children were aborted between 1967 and the present. Abortion isn’t the only method that has been used to stymie the growth of the black population. In 1973, Essence magazine exposed the practice of sterilizing black women in southern states, without their knowledge or consent.

Given the disturbing statistics about abortion in the black community, and the fact that 79% of Planned Parenthood’s surgical centers are located within walking distance of black and Hispanic neighborhoods, it is not hard to see that the pro-abortion movement has deliberately targeted black children. Indeed, in New York City, where the organization is headquartered, more black children are aborted than born alive. But this brings us to the most important question: Why?

The Reason for Pushing Abortion to Blacks

The notion that the pro-abortion Democrat crowd believes it is necessary to push the procedure in the black community might seem puzzling at first. After all, why should it specifically home in on helping black mothers kill their unborn children? The data shows that this is potentially one of the most racist policies in the history of the United States, so why would the party that claims to oppose racism support a practice that has obviously had such a detrimental impact on people of color?

There could be several different reasons why the progressive pro-abortion crowd focuses on the black community. But one element in this equation is that limiting a population’s size could make it easier to control. Through its various destructive programs, the progressive left has kept many black Americans living in poverty and crime. The Democrats have managed to keep a significant number of these Americans dependent on welfare programs that ultimately make it more difficult for people to pull themselves out of poverty. Additionally, the left has successfully convinced many blacks that the Republican Party subscribes to a racist ideology designed to hamper the growth of minority communities. The fact that the GOP all but ignores inner cities has lent credibility to this claim.

But in the end, stunting the growth of a minority population inevitably has a debilitating impact on its ability to prosper, and in the case of black Americans, pushing abortion is likely the most potent strategy to further ensure that a sizeable portion of the black demographic remains in suboptimal conditions. Thus, the Democrats’ job of manipulating blacks into supporting their party’s candidates becomes that much easier.

The Racism of Abortion

In years past, the data related to the black community and abortion would have disturbed even those on the pro-choice side, who still believed that abortion was undesirable. Now, the progressive left is on a nationwide campaign to brand the practice as a positive and healthy choice for women, and if their messaging succeeds, the Democratic Party will be empowered to cause even more decay in the black community.

The Democratic Party has a deplorable history of racist programs and legislation, but the pro-abortion movement is a glaring display of anti-black sentiment that rivals even that of slavery. Under the “peculiar institution,” blacks were allowed to live – for the most part – because slave masters needed the labor. But abortion is an even more insidious policy; instead of enslaving blacks, the elite are deceiving them into killing their own children due to the poverty largely caused by far-left policies. Unfortunately, as long as the left is allowed to pursue its agenda without a significant challenge, the devastation in the black community will continue.

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