There’s a good Richmond Times Dispatch story by Tammie Smith about abortion in the black community. Black women have nearly three times the number of abortions as white women. The anti-abortion movement claims that it is trying to enlist the black community in its anti-abortion crusade.
Victoria Cobb, executive director of the conservative Family Foundation of Virginia, said many blacks, who identify as Democrats, view opposing abortion as a Republican issue. Those old political divisions may be changing, she said.
“We are seeing the beginning of the paradigm shift with the marriage issue. African-American pastors are leading the charge to defend marriage,” she said, pointing out the foundation’s association with a multicultural group of Tidewater-area pastors. “I think we will see more of this on issues like abortion,” she said.
“I think many African-American pastors are engaging on the issue of fatherlessness,” Cobb said. “They are also seeing that tied to abortion, and how incredibly destructive that is to the community.”
Engaging in the issue of fatherlessness is all well and good. But exactly how is that tied to abortion? Preventing black women from getting abortions isn’t going to make the absent fathers return. It would simply bring another child, who perhaps can’t be properly cared for, into the world.
The problem of more unwanted pregnancies among black women is tied to the problems of health care in this country. Contraception is not cheap.
“One out of every three black women is without health insurance,” [said Lorraine Cole, president and chief executive officer of the Black Women’s Health Imperative], when asked about the figures. “Without health insurance, many women do not get routine gynecological care or have limited access to prescription birth-control methods which are more reliable. Also, some women have difficulty negotiating condom usage, which is a male-controlled contraceptive method.
Cole said data show black women also have higher childbirth-related death rates and higher rates of reproductive cancers such as cervical and ovarian cancers — other issues that reflect a “reproductive health crisis,” she said.
“The statistics . . . also speak to the need for comprehensive sex education that includes discussion of the full range of contraceptive options,” Cole said.
“The abortion rate is directly proportional to the rate of unintended pregnancies among both black women and white women. So, it can be addressed largely by preventing unintended pregnancies through comprehensive sex education and access to reproductive health care.”
How many of the social regressives who oppose abortion also oppose government programs that help poor people get adequate health care because doing so might raise taxes? And what do they offer as alternatives to abortions?
[Day] Gardner of Black Americans for Life, said these women need to be told there is other help out there.
“There are a lot of people who will talk about adoption within the white community,” Gardner said.
“I think abortion is thought to be the answer in the black community. We know there are a lot of problems in poor and minority areas. . . . The poverty and the health problems are very real. No one is saying they aren’t. Yes, they have problems keeping these children. Churches will help. There are people who will help.”
And that would be who and what? Churches aren’t going to fulfill the need. Regressives love to say there are alternatives to abortion but rarely say what those alternatives are and who will pay for them.