Summary: CURE's Newest Report, "The Impact of Abortion on the Black Community"

By: Marty Dannenfelser, Vice President for Government Relations and Coalitions

As pro-life Americans bear witness to the sacredness of human life at the annual “March for Life” in our nation’s capital today, the Center for Urban Renewal and Education (CURE) is releasing its annual report on “The Impact of Abortion on the Black Community.”

It is no accident that abortion has become so deeply entrenched within the black community. Margaret Sanger, a founder of the American birth control movement and the organization that is now known as the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), was a leader in promoting control of the birth rate among blacks and others she considered undesirable.

In an opinion article published in The New York Times on April 17, 2021, PPFA Director Alexis McGill Johnson acknowledged Planned Parenthood’s racist roots and eugenic mission. “It’s a question that we’ve tried to avoid, but we no longer can,” Johnson said. She admitted that Planned Parenthood had excused Sanger’s “association with white supremacist groups and eugenics . . . always being sure to name her work alongside that of W.E.B. Dubois and other Black freedom fighters.”

Johnson acknowledged that Sanger cultivated connections with the Ku Klux Klan and endorsed a Supreme Court decision that “allowed states to sterilize people deemed ‘unfit’ without their consent and sometimes without their knowledge – a ruling that led to the sterilization of tens of thousands of people in the 20th century.”

Despite PPFA’s admission of its racist history, the organization continues to cultivate political and popular culture black elites to help persuade blacks and the broader American public that Planned Parenthood’s mission is for the benefit of the black race.

Sadly, black women obtain abortions at a disproportionately high rate. According to the United States Census Bureau and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Abortion Surveillance Report, black women made up 14 percent of the childbearing population in 2020 yet obtained 39.2 percent of reported abortions.

In a 2021 Amici Curiae (“friend of the court”) brief that defends the State of Pennsylvania’s limitations on Medicaid funding of abortion, nationally recognized leaders in the black community – including CURE Founder and President Star Parker – argued that black women have been subjected to “the predatory objectives and actions of the abortion industry, especially Planned Parenthood. From its inception, the abortion industry has sought to control and hinder the growth of the black population, a core objective of the movement’s founders.”

Star Parker and fellow leaders refuted the argument that racism and systemic discrimination are justification for publicly funded abortions, arguing that such a policy “means hurting the black women and communities that they claim to serve . . . If our goal is to improve access to beneficial healthcare for black communities, abortion is not the way.”61  

Under Parker’s leadership, CURE is celebrating the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which once again enables Congress and state legislatures to protect unborn children. CURE is fighting the efforts of Planned Parenthood, the rest of the abortion industry, and the radically pro-abortion Biden-Harris administration as they seek to promote chemical abortions to American women, especially black women.

“The Impact of Abortion on the Black Community” points out that an impressive nationwide network of pro-life pregnancy centers is providing vital services to pregnant women in difficult circumstances. The mostly volunteer servants at these centers are dedicated to helping as many women and saving as many babies as possible.  

Churches and faith-based organizations have provided crucial support to pregnancy care centers, but many others need to come forward and expand on this umbrella of loving care.

After nearly five decades of courts imposing abortion on America and blocking numerous efforts to protect the sanctity of human life, policymakers at all levels of government now have the opportunity and obligation to do everything in their power to protect human life, inside and outside the womb.