Not surprisingly putting 65 of the billboards above in Georgia has created some controversy and drawn some attention both positive and negative. According to the New York Times:
The groups responsible insist that they are not exaggerating, despite contrary federal data. The billboards, which show a close-up of a worried-looking African-American boy, are an effort to highlight data showing that black women get a disproportionate number of abortions, especially in Georgia, and that the number in Georgia is increasing.
“The impact of abortion has become so great that it has begun to impact our fertility rate,” said Catherine Davis, the minority outreach coordinator for Georgia Right to Life, the state’s main anti-abortion group, which has sponsored the billboards in partnership with the Radiance Foundation, a group based in Atlanta that encourages adoption.
The billboards — there are 65 now and will eventually be 80, Ms. Davis said — were created in conjunction with a new Web site, www.toomanyaborted.com, which says that all of Georgia’s abortion clinics are in “urban areas where blacks reside.” The Web site connects abortion to segregation, saying that after the civil rights era, racists went “underground,” and that today “abortion is the tool they use to stealthily target blacks for extermination.”
What do you think about the group making an association between abortion and segregation? We never heard that one before….
See the commercial for the campaign after the jump.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
I mean in my Sex in a Global Context Class we talked about the original Mission Statement of Planned Parenthood when it first opened. And it pretty much said the above exactly. smh.
My granny always told me: “Ignorance breeds Ignorance” I will live and die by that.
It has nothing to do with black and white yellow brown or pink. As a community black people are more accepting to abortions then other cultures under ANY circumstance. Some others rather do adoptions or have their parents take care of their unplanned pregnancies.
your assessment that black people are more accepting of abortions is based on what data? this sounds like racism if you’re white – and reverse racism if you’re black.
the issue at hand with abortions and unplanned pregnancies in the past was never that we got “more” pregnant it was that OTHER RACES had more abortions – which skewed unwed motherhood statistics in our direction.
now with more black women going to college – they have more to lose re: unplanned pregnancy so you see those numbers rising as well.
anyone who has had nominal exposure to other races knows for a fact that abortion is almost universally used – regardless of race – as a method of birth control. so this issue is not just a black issue – it’s a human issue – it’s an american issue where the right to choose – is abused as a method of birth control (and yes I include the morning after pill, etc. in this).
the irony of your post is that you prefaced your ridiculously biased remark by saying that ignorance breeds ignorance – and then you spouted pure unsubstantiated ignorance. what’s even worse is that your own irony escapes you.
1) I would be reverse racist, as I am Black, if I were to live by your statement… (check the defination of racism/racist though. I’m not sure how I came to be a racist with my statement.
2) never claimed black women got “more” pregnant… that sounds silly to me.
3) Totally agree that that black women are going to college more… but as far as them having “more to lose”, not so much. An unplanned pregnancy has the same effect on most women… their resources is what can change things for them. Now if you were to say that black women might not have the same resources… I might be in agreement… might.
4) Never said that it wasn’t universally used… I have been majorly exposed to other races as I lived in Chicago, went to public school in the city, public school in the suburbs, christian school in the burbs, and a stint at a private school in the burbs. I have been exposed to enough culture and races to know that abortion is used. What I said is that as a society we are more accepting. If women are using abortion as a method of birth control — they are obviously not educated on what “birth control” does; last time I checked it prevented a pregnancy… not terminated one, but hey I’m ignorant… according to your statements.
You may want to check the definition of ignorance also. I wouldn’t speak on this unless I have educated myself on the subject matter. I volunteered at a youth center for 2 years. Not only am I educating myself in the classroom on the issues surrounding African Americans, but I am educating myself with experience.
My data would be from my African American studies minor, more specificaly,
Abortion, Race, and Gender in Nineteenth-Century America by Tamara Kay. Studies have shown that as a race the African American community is more accepting to the idea of abortion.
While you asking for my data… where is hers. I’ve checked this website… and still searching…
LOVES IT!!!
“last time I checked it prevented a pregnancy… not terminated one, but hey I’m ignorant… ”
LOVES IT!!!! LMAO!!!!@Dizzle!
I think that this group is digustind and irresponsible. They’re exploiting the black abortion statistcs for their own agenda. If these statistics are true then someone should be trying to uncover and address the reasons behind the high rates of abortions among blacks and not selfishly and shamelessly using the data to advance their cause. After the clinics are closed then what?? The real problem will still be there and these people will probably be nowhere to be found.
I should have explained my ignorance statement.
What is meant by that statement (for us):
If we stay ignorant to or ignore the root of the issue, then we will never be able to solve it.
Sorry if you thought it was a racial thing. It is simply a motivational tool for my family to tackle problems head on and not try to fix the surface of an issue.
goddamn racists and almost as annoying people who say everything is racist
I think people with the right to life movement have good intentions. Some of them. However, I don’t know how many of them are out there searching for black babies to adopt. (Thanks Madonna)
period.
rich neighborhoods don’t want abortion clinics because they don’t look pretty.
poor people don’t need to have more children until they can afford them.
this should have nothing to do with race.
I’m black, and wrote this.
Black children aren’t endangered species as long as Lil Wayne is involved…..