Reasons abound for pro-life movement’s lack of minorities (abortion)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch ^ | /28/2006 | Ron Harris

[Lorianne]

For Lillie Epps, one of the few African-American leaders in the anti-abortion movement, it was a telling moment.

Epps was among top anti-abortion advocates who had gathered in the Oval Office of the White House last year to watch President George W. Bush sign into law a bill banning so-called "partial-birth" abortions.

"When he signed the bill, there were some other African-Americans in the room," recalled Epps, 52. But when it came time for publicity photographs, some were ushered out, including all of the black leaders.

"That sends a message that it's really not an African-American issue," said Epps, of Care Net, an affiliation of some 900 pregnancy centers nationally. "It's something that white folks are doing, and we're not invited."

That message, those inside and outside of the movement say, may be one reason so few blacks have joined the cause. Though repeated polls show the same number of African-Americans, Hispanics and Asians are opposed to abortion as whites, they continue to make up a tiny fraction of those who actively support the anti-abortion effort.

'Where are the rest of us?'

Nowhere was the absence of minorities more apparent than in Washington last Monday as tens of thousands of anti-abortion activists from around the country participated in the annual March for Life. Television reports and newspaper photographs projected an image of thousands of earnest, enthusiastic and nearly all white protesters.

One of the few exceptions was Connie Eller of St. Louis, the coordinator of 10 buses from Missouri and Illinois that made the 40-hour round trip to Washington and back.

[dead]

"When he signed the bill, there were some other African-Americans in the room," recalled Epps, 52. But when it came time for publicity photographs, some were ushered out, including all of the black leaders.

The implication, of course, is that Bush wanted them out of the photograph because of their skin color.

It's a pretty obnoxious charge without additional information about who was there, who was in the photo and how those in the photo were selected.

Typical.

[Iam1ru1-2]

Reasons abound for pro-life movement’s lack of minorities (abortion)

One of the biggest reasons is because they're being aborted in such great numbers.

[Cicero]

This sounds extremely doubtful. President Bush has always gone out of the way to be friendly to blacks. And there's no racism that I've ever heard of in the pro-life movement. To the contrary, the idea is to protect the rights of all the unborn.

Margaret Sanger, on the other hand, was a racist, as were many in the early eugenics movement that stands behind Planned Parenthood.

There are relatively few blacks in the pro-life movement because of the dereliction of black leaders, especially black clergy. They are the guys who need the way to a PRACTICAL repudiation of abortion and perversion.

In the early days after Roe v. Wade, it was lay Catholics who led the way, with very little help from the priests and bishops. Then the clergy started to get on board, and the Evangelicals joined in.

It's long past time that Black Baptists and others joined the pro-life party. They would be most welcome.

[madprof98]

"I've interviewed over 10,000 African-Americans over 14 years that I've been with the institution on a variety of issues," Bositis said. "And I always start out my surveys by asking them to name three things that they think are the most important problems in the country. In all those years, I've never had an African-American mention abortion."

It's unlikely any of the problems mentioned were "internal" ones--thanks to (a) a legacy of persecution and (b) a leadership determined to keep the persecution-mentality alive as along as possible.

Mention that abortion is more prevalent among blacks than other groups, and you are accused of being one of the racist oppressors. (The folk at Planned Parenthood, in contrast, are perceived as helpful allies.)

[jocon307]

"This sounds extremely doubtful."

Yes, it does, but I did hear similar grumblings about another pro-life photo op. I really can't remember clearly what it was, and I may have it all mixed up. Suffice it to say if this is accurate it is mere stupidity above all else.

[Redbob]

This whole article is a load of fishwash; there aren't more minorities in the pro-life movement because their handlers, the Dimocrats, see it as a GOP issue and won't allow them to go there!

[theBuckwheat]

The newspaper in which this article appeared is notoriously pro-death and leftist. So, why would pro-death leftists seem to care that minorities are underrepresented in pro-life activities, especially those at the White House?

Only because it is another way to make Bush look bad.

My wife is the Director of Client Services for a Crisis Pregnancy Center in a midwest university town. She reports that about 40% of her clients are black. Despite continuous attempts to recruit black volunteers, she has only one black person who works at the center.

Worse, she cannot get any local black churches to support her center. All her help comes from white churches.

I will have to leave it to others who know more about the social dynamics of this situation to offer plausible explanations. I lend a hand at the center as well.

[Cicero]

It's just possible that some staffer lined up the pro-lifers according to rank or importance or some such, and the few black people there got pushed aside, but it's very hard to believe. Certainly Bush leans over backwards to be polite to black organizations, even though they regularly bash him for it.

I don't remember the name of the great lady who first organized the annual marches on Washington, but I believe that she was black. And widely praised and admired for her good work.

[John Lenin]

"The masses of Negroes... particularly in the South, still breed carelessly and disastrously, with the result that the increase among Negroes, even more than among whites, is from that portion of the population least intelligent and fit...[the goal is to] hire three or four colored ministers to travel to various black enclaves to propagandize for birth control...The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members."

--Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, describing her infamous "Negro Project," 1939. (Source: Richard Grant's book Killer Angel.)

[TBP]

The main purpose for which Planned Parenthood was founded was to "improve the human race" partly by aborting minorities. Of course it's a black issue. But the GOP is too afraid of the mainstream media to allow it to be seen that way.

[Eagles6]

I agree. I don't believe it.

[jocon307]

"But the GOP is too afraid of the mainstream media to allow it to be seen that way."

Slighty off topic in my response to you, but gosh darn it you are right they are afraid of the MSM. Now, if only Giuliani were pro-life I could say full-throatedly: Run Rudi Run, but he's not, so the rest of them need to grow some SPINES.

[tkathy]

Minority women desperately need control over their lives.