What Drives Black Women to Abortion, and How Can We Address It?

Ben Watson, a former NFL player and outspoken advocate for protecting unborn children, wrote an op-ed for Newsweek about the impact of abortion among black Americans.

Watson sees “racial and cultural injustices” driving the trend of so many black lives lost in the womb.

“As Black History Month comes to a close, I see no more glaring and deadly sign of the compounding trauma, injustice, and inequity of black history than the hundreds of thousands of black preborn children whose lives are terminated by abortion each year. If we’re going to remember this tragedy—as we must—we must also determine how we got here.”

Black women abort their babies at almost four times the rate of white women. That black women kill their unborn babies at a disproportionate rate doesn’t alarm leftists. They call it justice, freedom, and health care.

As Watson said, abortion is not health care. Mother and baby are two patients, and doctors should preserve the health and life of both.

“These are jaw-dropping figures, but reciting statistics without asking why they are what they are, or making the leap to solutions, only inflames a volatile situation,” Watson wrote. “Floating statistics can unfairly smear the reputations of countless pro-life black women—including my black mother, my black wife and my black daughters—with age-old stereotypes. It does not help the black community at large, but it does underscore a host of evils that are deeper than simply blaming Planned Parenthood and its cohorts.”

Watson posits his reasons why abortion is prevalent among black women decade after decade. The unemployment rate for black Americans is higher, for example, and abortion is seen as a cheap way to avoid more mouths to feed.

“None of these disparities absolve anyone of their responsibility when making a decision about whether to pursue an abortion,” Watson wrote. “But they do raise a question: how can we address the circumstances that drive women to choose abortion?”

America needs to create a culture of life, with policies and programs “that no longer fail these mothers and communities, and that often starts with the right leadership.”

The culture of life also starts in churches.

“The church needs to be at the forefront of the solution, offering financial assistance and child care to single moms, as well as steering church members toward reputable adoption organizations.”

Who but pro-lifers are alarmed by the abortion rate among blacks?

You can read the rest of Watson’s Newsweek op-ed here.

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