Abortion, Racism, and Slavery

John Piper has a provocative post today on the Desiring God blog about abortion, racism, and slavery. Here is an excerpt from "Stigma is a Good Thing for Bad Acts:"

So let’s be wise in showing the way abortion is closer to racism and slavery than people see.

The Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case of 1857 held that black slaves were property without rights as persons, yet today we view that as unthinkable. So the Supreme Court in the case of Roe v. Wade (1973) held that the unborn did not have rights as persons, yet we should hope and work that the day may come when that too is viewed as unthinkable.

So here’s one connection for starters:

Racism might—and often did—result in the killing of innocent humans. In our history, it often did. But there is no “might” about abortion. It always results in the killing of innocent humans.

Between 1882 and 1968, 3,446 black people were lynched in America. Today more black babies are killed by white abortionists every three days than all who were lynched in those years.

There is a lot of history to this. To understand the roots of racism and abortion, you must understand Margaret Sanger's early work in this area. A comprehensive summary can be found in "The Negro Project: Margaret Sanger's Eugenic Plan for Black Americans." Further information can be found on the LEARN site.

Comments

[Ellen]

I have often had many of these thoughts. However, I think someone could easily poke a hole in the argument of more black babies being killed by white abortionists, etc.... The white abortionist doesn't care whether the baby he kills is black, white, or purple. This is a business transaction for him. Those making the choice to put the child under the knife are his parents.

There are many bad reasons why they may feel pushed to it, and some of those could involve perceived racism. For example, they think that this child will spend the rest of its life in foster care because black children are less likely to be adopted, etc., so they abort. But my point is that the initial statement is a little weak and could detract from the larger, more valid point...

[Jennifer Barker]

So thought-provoking. If only everyone would look at it this way.

[Mel]

I don't think that pokes a hole in the argument Ellen. Why are most abortion clinics in predominantly Black and minority areas? One could say it has more to do with economics, but we'd be crazy to say that class and race in this country aren't inextricably linked.

Furthermore, I don't think we should be scared to voice this truth. When we have famous economists(one such economist would not be considered a 'racist' by mainstream standards) discussing how "technically" the crime rate in this country would decrease if more black children were aborted...how can we say that this obscuring the larger picture? It's not just black people coming up with some outlandish theory about these abortion truths, white people see it too!

Abortion in America is genocide.Period.