Billboard campaign sparks discussion of soaring African-American abortion rate
July 18, 2011
A controversial billboard that called attention to the high rate of abortion among African-American women has prompted rare media attention to the issue.
An Oakland Tribune story quotes from several advocates of legal abortion, who claim that it is simplistic to focus on the abortion rates, saying that “the abortion figures fit into a pattern of poor health outcomes for African-Americans and Latinos.” Even that well-rehearsed argument ultimately plays into the hands of pro-lifers, because a) it concedes that abortion is a “poor health outcome” and b) it defends Planned Parenthood by advancing the idea that the group’s clinics provide other important health services—an assertion that is in tatters after a series of recent investigative reports.
At the same time, the sponsor of the billboards has a chance to say that abortion is causing a silent “genocide” of the African-American community. A focus on that point could lead some enterprising reporters to investigate the racist origins of Planned Parenthood.
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