If the organisation funding these billboards genuinely wanted to make a difference in reducing the need for abortion they would be putting money into providing good quality pastoral care for children including high-quality sex education, widening access to contraceptive services and providing funds for disadvantaged children to further their education.

Unfortunately, the people funding these advertisements are the religious Right. They will always be crippled by the fact that they have a faith-based agenda which promotes abstinence based sex education above all else and encourages women to stay at home and raise children rather than empowering and educating them.

Anyway, I have blogged about anti gay marriage advocates putting a lot of interest into the ‘marriage crisis’ in the black community. This seems to be pretty similar. Unless there is something inherently wrong with black people I am not sure why they would need special instructions of this sort on their life choices. Assuming that the difference in statistics is due to circumstance rather than some kind of character problem makes it very difficult to picture making this sort of preachy ad. It is clear that these groups just want to use images of black poverty to call aboriton providers racist. Encouraging people to have kids they do not want (or cannot afford) & using billboard funds to that end instead of actually helping to fix the problem of poverty hurts way more people than it helps. It is the same old story of pro life money never being used to women (which reduces the abortion rate) or children (who cease to become important when they are born).

What I do not understand about the whole meme that abortion providers are racist is that the same groups always claim that abortion providers are in it just for profit. You would think that a white centric effort to increase abortion would be a lot more profitable (due to sheer number of whites in the us and the economic privilege that would enable them to purchase serial abortions more easily). Shit- I am trying to make sense out of pro life rhetoric, I probably shouldn’t waste my time like that.

What the hell?

My condolences on the loss of your son. I wish you peace.

That’s only the argument assholes make. Most arguments around that hypothesis revolve around women being able to delay childbearing until they feel ready to raise a child and not have more than they are capable of raising. The children get more resources allocated to them and happier, more stable parents; they are thus less likely to be neglected into social marginality. It’s the same mothers, raising children at a better time in their lives.

I guess it’s a case of who speaks for whom? I think there needs to be some contexualizing here, and maybe Black sisters need to be out there recognizing that there are many issues that need to be dealt with.

On the other hand, I am nnot sure that anyone cares if Black women are having more abortions, that’s just my opinion.

From my personal experience as a young Black woman who just went through pregnancy, child birth, the death of my infant son (which was preventable) this was more or less due to the lack of caring for me and my baby.

I think generally, a Black life is just not valuable no matter what your means are, and if it is planned or unplanned.

Yes, it would make sense for the pro-choice organizations to run an ad, although not a counter-ad in the billboard format. What would need to be done for a billboard would have to be very simple and have minimal text.

I’d feature a message about prevention:
“Planned Parenthood: for a healthy family” (large type)
“Pap smears. HIV prevention. Well woman care. Education. Birth control.” (list of some services given in smaller type, along with web address)
Photo should feature black women at varying ages – middle-aged mother with older teen daughter, 30ish M + F couple holding infant, 20ish woman college student

Targeted audience print ads could use a message like this:
“Did you know that black women have a higher rate of infertility? Take good care of your fertility. Some sexually transmitted infections, such as Chlamydia, can cause infertility without other symptoms. Get tested, and have your partner use a condom.”

However, while recognizing the not so chipper past with regards to race and feminism, I think that some of the current silence of white pro-choice females is out of fear of saying or doing something wrong. I’m not condoning it by any means, nor ignoring the fact that there many issues that could be blocking a very important dialog (like legit racism). In several pieces I’ve read in the last 6 months or so, there has been a theme suggesting that white privileged feminists should stop telling women of color what to do– which, while a touchy topic, is very seriously founded in reality. The disconnect between class, culture, race, and privilege in this country causes schisms in understanding– it is impossible to insist what is right for another when you do not know their situation. However, people can read articles on this topic in several ways (just look at the comment sections!) and I think some people comprehend it as a “GTFO” argument. The response to issues like this become quieted out of the fear of stepping out of line.