Why Black Americans for Life?

Why Black Americans for Life?

When coming face-to-face with the name of the organization "Black Americans for Life," many people have wondered why there should be a separate organization for Black Americans.  There are, after all, numerous pro-life organizations which were already in existence before Black Americans for Life was organized.

In truth, Black Americans is, more or less, an arm of the National Right-to-Life, but it is directed specifically toward black women of child-bearing age, their mothers, and those youngsters who soon will be of age.  The reason for this particular organization, and others around the country like it, is to educate black women about the harm abortion is causing to them and to the black population in America.

A disproportionate number of the babies who are aborted are either black or bi-racial.  For example, in New York City, roughly 60% of the black babies who are conceived are aborted.  The estimate of the number of black babies who have been aborted in this country since 1973 is about 17,000,000!  That number very likely only includes the babies of black mothers - not the babies of women of other races whose fathers are black.  

A sister organization is called "Black Genocide."  In fact, this is truly genocide!  The babies who are aborted are not only lost to this earth, but so are the children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc., that they likely would have had had they been permitted to survive the womb.  So, the 17,000,000 figure represents only the babies who have been aborted; not the babies they would have had.  This means that, while, at one time, the black population of the nation was the largest minority group, it has become only the second largest minority group.  If abortion continues at the present rate, eventually, it's rank will decrease further.  This means a great loss to the world when one considers the contributions many black people have made to this society, whether in the field of medicine, of sports, of music, of entertainment, of business, or whatever.

No doubt one of the reasons for the high incidence of abortion in the black community is that people are not marrying in the large numbers they once were before the advent of the Great Society programs that penalized women for having a husband with her children by having tax dollars pay for expenses far more than an "ordinary" husband could, while denying them those benefits if the husband stayed with the wife and children.  It is difficult for a woman alone to rear a child, so the child is seen as a detriment to the woman's life, meaning that self-interest "demands" that the child be aborted.  In other cases, no doubt a woman who wants to keep her child is pressured into abortion by the father of the child or a parent of the woman.  

Nevertheless, abortion is rapidly depleting the population of young black Americans.  Black women need to take into account that, by aborting their babies, they are not only killing the babies and doing physical, emotional, spiritual, and relational damage to themselves, they are participating in reducing the entire black population.