Pro-Life Advocates Protest National NAACP Convention Over Abortion Backing
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 12, 2010
Kansas City, MO (LifeNews.com) — As black civil rights activists from across the country meet today in Kansas City for the NAACP convention, pro-life advocates are there to encourage them to oppose abortion. Black pro-lifers and supporters are letting convention-goers know the NAACP takes a position backing legalized abortion.
Delagates to the convention also heard from pro-abortion First Lady Michelle Obama, who addressed delegates at the 101st NAACP national convention on the subject of childhood obesity.
Last year, more than 50 pro-life advocates protested outside the convention in Detroit and some of the same pro-life leaders will gather again this year, including Rev Clenard Childress and other leaders of LEARN.
The Life Education and Resource Network will again present the case for an open forum on the issue of abortion and the black community.
"When the most dangerous place for an African American is being in the womb of their African American mother it’s time for the most revered African American institution to bring this issue to the forefront of discussion," Childress told LifeNews.com.
LEARN has been assisted by the Center For Bioethical Reform at each of the NAACP Convention protests in prior years and the two groups are pairing up once again with large abortion signs.
The theme of this year’s demonstration is "Why No Outrage" as LEARN is demanding the NAACP addresses the racist comment by Supreme Court Judge, Ruth Bader Ginsberg.
When asked by the New York Times her view on Roe vs. Wade. Ginsberg commented, "Frankly at the time Roe VS Wade was decided; we thought it was to control populations, especially populations we don’t want too many of."
Childress, a black pastor from New jersey, responded: "When you look at the absurdity perpetrated by Leon Jenkins and the LA. N.A.A.C.P over Hallmarks Hoops and Yoyo comments on "black holes in space" and absolutely no response by the NAACP, Rainbow Coalition, or National Action Committee it boggles the mind. This is probably the most racist comment since Oliver Wendell Holmes. Where are they?"
The LA. NAACP protested the Hallmark graduation card saying the cartoon characters claiming there reference to black holes actually sounded like "Black Hoes" The card had been available to customers for three years and Childress says this was the first time Hallmark had any complaint about the card. Hallmark capitulated and removed the card from its stores.
Bill Calvin of the Center For Bioethical Reform also commented on the protests.
"Kansas City pro-lifers are greatly encouraged by Pastor Childress confronting the delegates to the NAACP Convention with the ugly truth about abortion," he said.
"They prophetically expose the tension between our common cultural belief in the special worth of all human beings and the tragically high abortion rate in the Kansas City African-American community – which is five times that in the white community," he added.
Childress has said that, historically, the NAACP "has failed to address the concerns of many of its delegates about abortion."
He pointed to a 2004 resolution voicing support for “equal access to abortion” and urging its members to participate in a pro-abortion rally in Washington. Then, in 2007, the NAACP, for the second time in four years, blocked a proposed resolution expressing opposition to abortion.
The Georgia chapter of the NAACP came under fire earlier this year for withdrawing its support for a bill advancing in the Georgia state legislature that would ban abortions done specifically because the child is African-American.
The decision drew criticism from Star Parker, a nationally syndicated pro-life black columnist.
"Why would a bill that criminalizes abortion motivated by race not have the support of the NAACP? Or, even more perplexing, why would the NAACP endorse such a bill and then rescind its endorsement?" she asked.
"After the bill moved to the House for passage, suddenly Edward DuBose, president of the Georgia NAACP, had a change of heart. In a statement withdrawing NAACP’s support for the bill, DuBose claimed they didn’t “fully understand” it when they endorsed it," she added. "It’s not news that an abortion holocaust is taking place in black America. Blacks, about 12 percent of our population, account for almost 40% of the abortions that are performed nationwide each year."
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