Black Abortion Advocates Attack Alveda King, Say Martin Luther King Not Pro-Life
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 27, 2010
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — A group of black abortion advocates are attacking Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., for saying her uncle is pro-life. The younger King has been a pro-life advocate for some time since coming to regret her multiple abortions but some abortion activists don’t like what she has to say.
King is slated to appear at the Glenn Beck event commemorating the 47th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic "I Have a Dream" speech.
Responding to that event and a new billboard campaign, members of the "Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice" held a press conference and issued a statement blasting Alveda King.
They said the "religious right billboard campaign claiming African American children are an ‘endangered species’ and Alveda King’s comparison of anti-abortion activists to ‘Freedom Riders’ sparked outrage in the African American community."
The black RCRC members called King’s claims that her uncle would be pro-life today "baseless and inflammatory assertions."
"Disparaging clinics that provide abortion, birth control and reproductive health services is harmful to communities struggling with high rates of unintended pregnancy, teen births and HIV/AIDS, insulting to the intelligence and values of African Americans, and offensive to women who make conscientious moral decisions about pregnancy," they said.
The pro-abortion black activists said Right to Life groups and "other right-wing organizations started this irresponsible and offensive campaign to make inroads into African American communities to promote their own agenda – to ultimately overturn Roe v. Wade."
"The Black community has repeatedly rejected the ‘Religious Right’ anti-abortion movement," they said.
In a statement to LifeNews.com, Alveda King issued her own response.
"It is absolutely ludicrous that abortion supporters would accuse a blood relative of Dr. King of hijacking the King legacy. Uncle Martin and my father, Rev. A. D. King were blood brothers," she said. "How can I hijack something that belongs to me? I am an heir to the King Family legacy."
"I have a right to stand at the Lincoln Memorial on the 47th Anniversary of my Uncle’s ‘I Have A Dream’ speech," she continued.
"The Dream has yet to be realized. That Dream is in my genes and I carry forward in the fight for equality and justice for all blacks, including those in the womb," King said.
"My dad and my uncle gave their lives to ensure that the day would come when blacks would be judged not by the color of their skin, but the content of their character. If they were here, I know they would stand with me in this fight for the lives of those most vulnerable among us," said King.
Other black pro-life leaders joined King in defending herself and her assertions.
"It’s interesting to me to hear so called religious people call us the religious right — but that’s okay because they are obviously the complete opposite… they are the religious wrong," said Day Gardner, president of the National Black Pro-Life Union.
"The travesty of abortion — especially in the black community is the greatest civil rights battle of our time and we must overcome it," she said.
Catherine Davis, who heads up the black outreach project for Georgia Right to Life , also chimed in on the debate.
"More and more of Black Americans understand the eugenic agenda of Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers to control the black birth rate through abortion. And because we understand, we are standing with Alveda King in solidarity, continuing the fight for black life from its earliest beginnings," she said.
"I grew up understanding that the King family fought for my right to equality, even as they fought, bled and died for my right to life, free of government sanctioned lynching, restraints, and KKK threats. To believe that they would now stand for the destruction of life in the womb, screams against the legacy these great men left for us all," Davis continued.
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