In bold, 10-foot letters, pro-life advocates painted the words “Black Preborn Lives Matter” on the street Saturday outside a Planned Parenthood abortion facility in Baltimore.
The Christian Post reports Students for Life of America, The Frederick Douglass Foundation and Human Coalition Action organized the demonstration along with several other pro-life groups.
“Most people don’t see that [abortion] amounts to a form of Black genocide,” Christopher Anderson of the Frederick Douglass Foundation told the Baltimore Sun. “If we’re going to be consistent and say ‘Black Lives Matter,’ we will defund racist organizations like Planned Parenthood. We are standing in the gap for Black lives.”
About 15 pro-life advocates gathered at 5 a.m. to paint the pro-life message on the street with yellow, washable paint, according to the reports. Other advocacy groups, including Black Lives Matter, also have been painting their messages on city streets this summer.
During a rally afterward, pro-life advocate Toni McFadden, who is African American, said she aborted her unborn baby at age 18 — something she now deeply regrets, the Sun reports.
“I’m here because I believe that all Black lives matter, not just those who fit a particular narrative, and that includes pre-born Black lives,” she said.
Here’s more from the Baltimore Sun:
Police officers who arrived at the scene shortly after 6 a.m. allowed the words to remain in place — and chose not to issue citations — on the grounds that the demonstrators were not impeding traffic and that use of removable paint didn’t constitute destruction of property. They also said the city has established precedent in recent months by allowing other groups to paint or chalk messages in the streets.
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“(The message) will remain here unless the city wants to come take it out, and that would be outside the police department,” Baltimore Police Sgt. Vincenzo Julio said.
Students for Life asked permission from Baltimore Mayor Bernard Young to conduct the demonstration but did not receive a response to their letter, an SFLA spokesperson told The Christian Post.
The letter read, in part: “City officials intervened to allow a Black Lives Matter artwork to continue to be displayed. We ask that our message of hope and a future – BLACK PREBORN LIVES MATTER – receive the same support and respect in Baltimore. We are asking you, Mayor Young, to respond promptly to our permit with permission to add our message in favor of the dignity of Black preborn life to the public forum of the city streets, which you have opened to others.”
In August, two Students for Life members were arrested for participating in a similar demonstration outside another abortion facility in Washington, D.C.
Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life, said they are working to expose the racist roots of the abortion industry.
“Consider that the abortion industry think tank established by Planned Parenthood, the Guttmacher Institute, notes ‘the abortion rate for black women is almost five times that for white women,’” Hawkins said. “Margaret Sanger’s racist legacy must come to an end as we defund Planned Parenthood to invest in real healthcare that save lives, not ends lives.”
Pro-life organizations also launched a billboard campaign this month to draw attention to the No. 1 killer of Black lives in America: abortion.
While abortions harm families of every race and culture, they disproportionately harm Black families. As the letter noted, statistics show that while Black Americans represent 13 percent of the U.S. population, they have 36 percent of all abortions. According to the Guttmacher Institute, the abortion rate among Black women is almost five times higher than it is among white women. And in New York City, health data indicates that more Black babies are aborted than are born alive annually.
Pro-life leaders estimate approximately 20 million unborn Black babies have been aborted since Roe v. Wade.
