Bishop Vincent Mathews Jr. of the Church of God in Christ issued a strong call to Americans to stand up against the injustice of abortion on Friday during the March for Life.
Mathews, a leader in the predominantly black denomination, led the prayer that kicked off the march, which drew hundreds of thousands of pro-lifers to the nation’s capital on Friday. Before praying, Mathews talked about how the abortion industry targets the black community, and how churches like his are working to bring about a change.
“But as you stand here, you’re protecting black Americans and Africans around the world,” Mathews said. “My people are being hunted like animals. People cry for Harambe, but they have no love for us as we’re being killed every day. Enough is enough. It’s time to rise up. It’s our time to save lives. The slaughter shall end.”
Abortions are disproportionately high in the African American community. According to the National Vital Statistics Report from June 2012, African American women experience an average of 1.6 times more pregnancies than white women, but have five times more abortions during their lifetime.
Another study found that 79 percent of Planned Parenthood surgical abortion facilities are within walking distance of black and Hispanic neighborhoods.
Mathews said the black community is beginning to rise up against the injustice of abortion toward the unborn. He said his 6.5 million-member denomination is promoting the life issues and encouraging its members to adopt babies who otherwise might be aborted.
Here’s more from The Christian Post:
Mathews introduced himself as having three identities: a Christian who loves Christ, a bishop of a predominantly African-American denomination that has 6.5 million members, and a black American.
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Talking about abortion, Mathews, father of 10, told the crowd, “It’s the same slaughter that sought to kill Moses, and the same type of slaughter that also sought to kill Jesus.”
He continued, “There are a lot of Christophobic people in this nation. Christophobic people who fight against the Gospel. They fight against us and tell us to be loving when they want to kill our children. But enough is enough.”
The 44th annual March for Life was full of spirit and hope, and the crowd was full of people of all ages and walks of life. They marched to mourn the nearly 60 million unborn babies lost to abortion since Roe v. Wade, which allowed abortion on demand through all nine months of pregnancy.
Despite so much loss, pro-lifers found many reasons to celebrate. New reports show abortions are dropping to historic lows and more women are being empowered to chose life for their babies. According to the latest report, abortions dropped below 1 million in 2014 for the first time in four decades. And even abortion advocacy groups credited pro-life efforts for the drop.
New for the March for Life, Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen, became the first sitting vice president and second lady to attend and speak at the event on Friday. Kellyanne Conway, White House advisor and former campaign manager to President Donald Trump, also spoke.
Other speakers included Baltimore Ravens tight end Ben Watson, Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Eric Metaxas, Abby Johnson and other pro-life and political leaders.
There are no official crowd estimates, but photos and video feeds of the march led many to estimate the number of pro-lifers in the hundreds of thousands. The hashtag #MarchforLife also was a trending topic on Twitter for most of the day Friday, another sign of strong support for life.
