Black Pro-Life Leaders Launch Historic Freedom Rides to Stop Abortions
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 19, 2010
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — The Freedom Riders of 1961 made history as they took their lives in their hands to protest the injustice of segregation. This summer, a group of black pro-life advocates will join leaders of the Catholic pro-life Priests for Life to stage pro-life Freedom Rides among some of the same routes used decades ago.
The Freedom Riders took their action to test a Supreme Court ruling that struck down segregation laws.
The African-American leaders say they ride to protest the Roe v. Wade ruling issued by the same Supreme Court that allowed the destruction of another class of human beings.
Dr. Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, is one of the participants in the Freedom Rides of 2010.
While the Freedom Riders sought to change the culture of racism in the United States, King says she and her colleagues seek to transform the culture of death into the culture of life.
“My Uncle Martin had a dream that Protestants and Catholics and Gentiles and Jews would join together and sing the age old spiritual ‘Free at Last,’” she told LifeNews.com today. "We urge all people of good will to join us as we link the Civil Rights Movement of the 20th Century to the heart cry for life in the 21st Century.”
Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life called the gathering of pro-life and civil rights leaders a "unique partnership" and one that presents the pro-life message in a new light by a different group of people than the public normally sees.
"By joining hearts and hands and voices in this way, we can help convince Americans once and for all that abortion is the ultimate violation of human rights,’ he said.
Catherine Davis a black woman who heads up minority outreach for Georgia Right to Life, says abortion and slavery have very real comparisons that shouldn’t be overlooked.
“In 1857, the Supreme Court, in the Dred Scott case, labeled blacks as property, denying them citizenship. The United States said no to this notion and restored personhood to blacks with the 14th Amendment," Davis told LifeNews.com. "In 1973 the Supreme Court in the Roe v. Wade case again took personhood away from a class of people – the unborn. We are riding and calling on all Americans to again reject this notion by restoring the right to life to the unborn."
The first Pro-life Freedom Ride is set for July 23-25.
National and local pro-life leaders will gather in Birmingham, Alabama for a major concert and rally. A prayer vigil will take place outside an area abortion center and then those traveling with the riders will get in the bus for the ride to Atlanta.
Some of the people involved in this historic event include: Dean Nelson, Rev. Clennard Childress, Rev. Sam Mosteller, Rev. Stephen Broden, Day Gardner, Fr. Denis Wilde, Fr. Peter West, Jim Pinto and Christian recording artist Darrian Summerville.
Related web sites:
Pro-Life Freedom Rides – https://www.prolifefreedomrides.com
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