Which way Black America? Anti-abortion; pro-choice

Ebony, Oct, 1989 by Pamela Carr, Faye Wattleton

Which Way Black America?

ANTI-ABORTION

I AM often asked why I, a young professional woman, am pro-life. I am pro-life because of my knowledge, both personal and scientific, that every abortion involves the taking of a human life. For the Black community, that means 1,000 African-Americans killed every day by abortion -- more than 400,000 each year. The future of Black America is being threatened, our hope -- through our children -- destroyed in the name of convenience.

Is abortion a solution to break the poverty cycle? Will it enable young women and men to overcome unplanned obstacles to their education and career successes, and thus the success of the whole Black community?

No, abortion is not a solution, because it undermines the very ideals previous Black leaders stood for--the belief that each life is valuable and has something to contribute; whether Black or White, born or unborn.

Through my own abortion experience, I learned first-hand that abortion is no solution to the problems of the Black community.

On the verge of entering college, with a bright hope of educational and career success before me, I was horrified to learn my life plans were threatened by a small group of multiplying cells within me. I was pregnant. I panicked! I couldn't believe that it happened to me. How would I face my family and friends? I reluctantly asked my boyfriend to give me the money to get an abortion. He was hesitant because he wanted the baby.

It is important to know that I epitomized what was good and right in my community as a young Black woman. I was headed for success, allowing nothing from the past to hinder me. No obstacle would stop me from achieving my goals.

I had it all together. I was 17 and in my junior year of high school in Queens, New York. I believed in myself, my ability to make my own decisions, and my right to do so. I was an enterprising young woman ready to make my mark on the world. I had plans to graduate the following year with the hopes of attending one of the top Black colleges in the country. Nothing or no one could interfere with the plans I had made for my life.

I had been dating my boyfriend for about a year. We were well informed about sex education and the necessity of birth control. We were considered decent, intelligent and good students among our peers. we decided to become sexually active several months prior to the pregnancy.

Eventually, I contacted an older family friend in whom I confided. She informed my fmaily about my pregnancy. My parents were hurt, but never ceased to remain concerned about me.

I had the "procedure" the following morning.

With my fears of a lost future and destroyed reputation behind me, I immediately faced a worse fear that I knew instinctively to be true. I had removed more than a "blob of tissue" or "the products of conception." I had killed my baby.

The anguish and the guilt I felt were unbelievable. I became deeply depressed. I no longer felt like that confident, jubilant young woman everyone knew me to be. Extreme feelings of insecurity followed me daily. My life took on new burdens. I could not have cared less about graduating from high school, or for that matter, attending college.

Overtime, I was able to forgive myself and go on with my life, but always with the knowledge that I had swept away a part of my future which could never be recovered.

Abortion is offered as a solution to help young Blacks to forge forward to overcome present hindrances and to strive for brighter tomorrows. Yet, abortion only darkened my future. It took me many years to rise above the tide of confusion and guilt that flooded my life.

By allowing 400,000 Black babies to be systematically killed every year, we as African-Americans have strayed from the path of the leaders who foughts so hard for our freedom. They would be alarmed today at how we forfeit the lives of our children, and, as a result, our future.

In the United States today, Black people only make up 12 percent of the population. Yet Black women have 25 percent of the abortions performed in our nation every year. For every three Black babies born, two die from abortion. It seems a silent genocide is taking place.

Teenage pregnancies, drugs, poverty and a lack of quality education are some of the problems that plague Black America. Abortion eliminates children, not these complex social problems. We shortchange ourselves when we buy the lie that we can improve the quality of our lives by terminating the lives of our children. How many more of them have to die before we realize that abortion is not a solution but another, more troubling, problem plaguing our community?

The solutions for the problems faced by the Black community will not be easy--they will require the effort of all of us working together. Let's take the first step by giving our children life because our children are our future.

Brave, positive leaders such as Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglas, Martin Luther King Jr. and others have paved the way for the freedoms we posses today as Black Americans.