A Woman’s Right: Why Are Anti-Abortion Billboards Targeting Blacks?

April 13th, 2011 - By TheEditor

"anti-abortion billboard"

By Charlotte Young

Britney Monroe says she was “in the hood” of her native Chicago when she looked up and saw it. There, in bold letters, she saw for the first time the billboard that had gotten so much media attention: “The Most Dangerous Place for an African American Child is in the Womb.”

“I had mixed feelings,” she said. “The billboards made their point, but they went about it the wrong way. I don’t think it was the most politically correct way. I don’t think it should have been as specific as far as race.”

The recent torrent of anti-abortion messages plastered on billboards in major cities nationwide has re-ignited the ongoing debate about abortion. This time, the billboards incorporated the extra element of race which makes unsuspecting passerbyers like Monroe ask, why target the African American community?

Life Always is the group responsible for the aforementioned billboard being placed in Soho, New York and in Chicago, Ill. The organization placed over 30 billboards in Chicago that featured a graphic of President Barack Obama and a message that stated, “every 21 minutes, our next possible leader is aborted.”

According to Life Always’ website, “an African American baby is three times more likely to be aborted and more African American babies have been killed by abortions since 1973 than the total number of African American deaths from AIDS, violent crimes, accidents, cancer and heart disease combined.”

“The aim of Life Always is to use media to share research and confrontational truth to empower individuals to choose life even when it’s challenging,” says Marissa Gabrysch, spokesperson from Life Always.  “Our messages aim to incite people to take action in support of life.”

Though not responsible for the billboards, Rev. Clenard Howard Childress, Jr., founder of Black Genocide, says that he’s been preaching the same thing for seven years. “The billboards are an understatement,” he said. “There’s nothing as decimating as abortion in the African American community.”

Childress says the issue of abortion is something that black politicians will not discuss, which, he describes as, a “gross negligence of our leadership.”

“We have to begin to address this,” he said. “If abortion was not lucrative, it would not be legal. Many groups are paid not to talk it.”

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  • KickWhitesOutAfrica

    QUESTION: Why are anti-abortion billboards targeting blacks?  ANSWER: Because white society knows the
    importance of keeping black men feeling repulsed by black women and enchanted
    by women of other races… that way, Black Unity cannot happen and our people
    remain weak and under white control.  I am
    from England and I have NEVER seen a billboard that large let alone advertising
    something so negative.  A pretty little black
    girl with a tiny pink bow in her natural hair purses her lips under the
    heading:  THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACE FOR AN
    AFRICAN-AMERICAN IS IN THE WOMB.  That is
    an outrageously offensive statement.  It
    isn’t difficult to see why white society has done this… and let us be clear
    about this FACT – this advert has NOTHING whatsoever to do with being concerned
    over the abortion rates amongst black women. 
    The purpose of this EVIL advert is threefold.  Firstly, to VILIFY black women before black
    men, black boys and other races of men and women; secondly, to further DESTROY the
    black woman’s self esteem thereby reinforcing her self-hatred; and thirdly, to DISSUADE
    black men from having children with black women.  This advert is HATE SPEECH.  I don’t know HOW the advertisers got away
    with it, but then… it is America where white people have been vilifying, humiliating,
    degrading and murdering  black women for
    centuries and getting away with it.  The murder
    of Mary Turner and the stomping to death of her unborn baby comes to mind.  How about a giant billboard with THIS
    title?  MARY TURNER & UNBORN BABY… THE
    MOST DANGEROUS PLACE FOR AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN IS IN WHITE HANDS.

    • watchingfromtheside

      This ad is saying that black women are falling for lie of “Reproductive Health” introduced and spread to reduce the birth rate of blacks and asians. Contraception and abortion are reducing the birthrate amongst blacks and asians so that whites can remain dominant and rich. Get with the program!

  • http://dj-na-wesele.w-sieci.org deftnoptere

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  • Pianki

    How will these blackpoliticians like it when someone goes around and vandalize, rip apart and not want their "Vote for Me" signs. Thats right, being that there is a move to prevent First Admendment Rights in the black African-American Communities on this issue hen I think politicians should have their "Vote For Me" messages under-go the same treatment. According to the most conservative statistics reported by the CDC on the topic of what demise the life of black males and females the most. That which deny black children from have a chance at life weather it is poverty of prosperity. It is ABORTIONS by Black Women. And I am not ashamed to tell who I can be reached at Lcsteel@mindspring.com. Black Women/Society since 1973 to 2005 has aborted over 18 million … that is 18 with 6 zeros. With a overall population of less than 40 million this ethnic group has willingly eliminated (2010 stats) over one half of it population. People in famine areas do not resort to that sort of action. Blacks brag about being considerated the tenth most powerful nation based on what they spend but but forever what the excuses are why aren't they being addressed before they caused this genocide?

  • Derrick

    Why do people consider population percentage to be a game where whomever has the highest score wins? Yes the billboard’s facts are true (in a very slanted way) but consider the alternatives, increased poverty, increased strain on federal/state support programs. Simply having children is not the answer. I am technically pro-choice (as a man I feel I can only provide a small opinion on a matter that exclusively effects women), and I feel that these groups do not support life after birth. What is to be done when the woman in poor financial standing, with no outside support, who decides to keep her pregnancy to term? Where will the baby get food and proper medical care? What type of life (realistically) faces this child? What about the mother’s life that is now in even more danger thanks to added strain on already scarce resources? All these questions aren’t even taking into considerations the strain on our nation, we are already dealing with the issue of the previous baby boomer group. Not to mention our planet as a whole is suffering from gross over population.

    It just makes me so angry when all of these blind faith people who cry out against abortion (the worst are those who are against contraceptives as well) and guilt women out of it only to abandon them 9 months later and call them bad parents for not being able to support their child. We must all be held accountable for both the direct and indirect effect we have on each other.

  • MissyD

    “an African American baby is three times more likely to be aborted and more African American babies have been killed by abortions since 1973 than the total number of African American deaths from AIDS, violent crimes, accidents, cancer and heart disease combined.”

    I don't know if I quite agree with that statistic. African and Latin American teens still make up the majority of teen pregnancy. There are still a crazy amount of African American single mothers. So are there really that man African American babies being aborted? This statistic can also lead you to believe that perhaps Black on Black crimes have gone down and maybe African Americans are protecting themselves more sexually because of AIDS.

    Either way, I don't agree with a specific race being targeted for Anti-Abortion ads. Not unless they are going to target all races eventually. But to be singled out isn't fair. On top of that, this isn't making the decision for these women any easier.

    • Pianki

      From conservative sources, Center for Disease Control based in Atlanta, Ga, Black and black African-American women has aborted since 1973 to 2006 12 to 15 million black babies. Some sources say over 18 million. Rather than being emotional do the research yourself.

  • bishop

    I agree with the billboard…As blacks our population percentage seems to be stuck at 13%..Every census that comes out seems to show little or no growth for our race. While other groups suchs as Asians and hispanics are zooming right by us in terms of the population numbers game. Folks this stuff will have an affect down the road in terms of elected leaders, distribution of government funding and a whole host of other ramifications. The main reason why we're slow to grow as a population here in the U.S is because we are so quick to have an abortion…We're too busy trying to keep up with the jones than to raise a family…Our saving grace has been immigrants from the Carribean and Africa which has somewhat buoyed our population numbers.

    • geemoenettie

      No way. "Surveys" how that we have more kids than anyone. Then they turn around and say we kill them all. Don't believe the hype. When I was pregnant with my oldest child, a commercial on the radio said that more black women die during childbirth than any other race. So how the hell do we keep reproducing if we're dead. You have to look around you and think for yourself.

      • God of the Gaps

        geeemoenettie;

        No, blacks have 2.1 children – which is at replacement level. It is the Hispanics that have the most children. They are also arriving here in great numbers.

        As for black women dying in childbirth, that probably includes women in Africa, a place that's chock full of poor countries.

        • geemoenettie

          I don't know anyone with 2.1 kids. I have four myself. I have never cut a child from my womb. By the way, it was not a statistic that included Africa.

      • Pianki

        If black women are dying at he rate of 20 per 1000 who give birth and everyone else is dying at 10 per 1000 births. What does that say to you? Is not more black women dying who give birth to children?

  • Larry

    She says she was “in the hood” This looks like just a billboard catered to the people around it. If it was a white girl they would b***h because they should have someone with their ethnicity on it.

  • Toady

    str82myplace;

    How is it that racist whites are behind these billboards? Wouldn't they WANT black folks to keep aborting their children instead of the opposite?

  • JD1

    The ad is statistically correct. The truth is 40% of all black pregnancies end in abortion. More lives end through abortion than from black-on-black violence. The truth hurts, but it can also set you free. I like the ad. Why? Because I embrace the truth.

  • http://twitter.com/str82myplace @str82myplace

    These young women need the guidance and love that isn't given in the community and will not be given as long as these types of propoganda are allowed. The taking of our few healthcare facilities as diminishing as well as the funds to get at the source. The Black Panthers, founders of Headstart, WIC, school breakfast programs, neighborhood clinics for chidren and so on, knew what the problems were and addressed them. They lived, slept, cried, bled, and were who they helped. That's love. They never denegrated our black sisters, they taught them. What gives these white organizations the gall to come into our communities and dictate anything. FIRST, get us the basic tools we need in order for us to do it ourselves. Education, Money, Stop the bleeding of money from us to Huge Corporations, Gives jobs that pay a decent salary, and list goes on. Get that ISH out of where we live. Where are the billboards that give us hope. That would be a start. They clearly don't want that.

  • http://twitter.com/str82myplace @str82myplace

    Whites that control the money, education, jobs, loans, redline, are the same people that put these billboards up. They psyche our community into turning on itself and looking at itself in a way that perpetuates the same madness that they claim to want to stop.

  • http://twitter.com/str82myplace @str82myplace

    Black poverty, black one parent head of households, lack of education, lack of opprtunity, racism, still persists and it shows it's ugly head when billboards like this are permitted in our community. As with any problem, the source is never spoken about nor acted on. We as a people have been confined to ghettos and ignorance that we fail to see that oligarchs keep us racially divided and mistrustful of these types of propaganda. Why aren't there signs in affluent lacations as surely there are whites that have abortions too. They have more two parent families, their education level is higher, they have more opportunities ( whites do the hiring, interviewing etc.), they are not isolated economically, they make more, save more, and just the thought that they care enough about black fetus is stupid in the main.

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