In recognition of Black History Month, a group of pro-life students at Purdue University hung posters across campus to raise awareness about how black babies are targeted for abortions.
The posters read “Hands up, Don’t Abort” and “Black Children are an Endangered Race” and included the website TooManyAborted.com and the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, according to the Indy Star. On Monday, the Indiana college students also wrote messages such as “Womb = most dangerous place 4 black kids” in chalk on the sidewalks, the report states.
“[The] goal of doing this is really to bring to light … how specifically the African American community, minorities in general, are being targeted by Planned Parenthood and being exploited in the name of empowering women,” Purdue Students for Life President Kevin Lasher said.
The students said they were inspired to create the posters by pro-life African American Ryan Bomberger, founder of the Radiance Foundation. Bomberger’s website, TooManyAborted.com, points out that abortion is the number-one killer of black lives in America. Government statistics back up Bomberger’s statement. In New York City alone, more black babies are aborted every year than are born alive, LifeNews reported. Numbers from a 2012 National Vital Statistics Report also reveal that African American women experience an average of 1.6 times more pregnancies than white women, but have five times more abortions in their lifetime.
The abortion industry also has historically targeting minority women and their unborn babies ever since it began in America. Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion chain, was a racist and eugenicist who targeted African American and poor families and advocated for “sterilization and segregation” and “a cleaner race.” Currently, 79 percent of Planned Parenthood’s surgical abortion facilities are located within walking distance of African American and/or Hispanic/Latino communities, according to research by Protecting Black Life.
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The Purdue pro-life students said they want to raise awareness about these startling facts and work to protect every human life, no matter their age or race. However, some students on campus accused the pro-life group of trying to “shame women” with its messaging. At least one student filed an official complaint with the university, according to Fox 59.
Afton Goins, an African-American senior, blamed the pro-life students for promoting what she called “racist misogyny.” She said the posters were racist and sexist because they target black women who may “need” abortions.
“It’s very likely for a black woman who happens to get pregnant to be in a situation where she would want to have an abortion, being that she is in a bad financial situation or a victim of sexual assault or does not have the current resources to provide for a child,” Goins said.
“It’s using the black lives matter movement almost as a weapon to shame women who do want abortions or the right to access contraceptive services,” she continued.
Lasher responded that they were trying to raise awareness of a very serious problem and offer a better solution than abortion.
“We’re on their side,” Lasher said. “We are looking to protect the lives of unborn African-Americans and unborn women. I don’t think it’s being racist or sexist at all. It’s looking out for the most vulnerable among us.”
Purdue Students for Life also issued a public statement after the controversy arose:
“In light of Black History Month, our goal is to raise awareness of the fact that abortion and the industry that surrounds it disproportionately affects and harms the black community. We want people to know that black lives matter, in the womb and out. We must fight factors like poverty, sexism, and racism, that drive women to abortion, and we at Purdue Students for Life work to love and support women of all races facing crisis pregnancies. This is not about shaming anyone. It’s about human equality and the fact that all human lives have dignity that cannot be taken away, be they black or white, male or female, born or preborn.”
At the national level, African American pro-lifers have been strong in their call to end the targeting of unborn black babies and their mothers by the abortion industry. Bomberger recently joined U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy from Wisconsin in calling out the Congressional Black Caucus for ignoring the shocking number of black babies who are aborted. And Dr. Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., wrote an open letter to pro-abortion President Barack Obama in January asking him to change his position and defend unborn babies from the violence of abortion.