No one needs to tell anyone who works in an urban-based pregnancy resource center that a disproportionate number of their clients are African-American women.

While only 14 percent of the women in the United States of childbearing age are African-American, the most recent national statistics (1997) show that 35.9 percent of all abortions were performed on African-American women.

While African-American women constitute approximately 14 percent of the women of child bearing age in this nation, many centers report that well over 50 percent, and in many cases a much higher percentage, of their clients are African-American.

While a substantial number of these women are not abortion-minded, the statistics coming out of the nation's abortion industry reveal that abortion is more and more frequently becoming the option of choice for African-American women. In 1997, the most recent year for which national statistics are available, 35.9 percent of all abortions were performed on African-American women. This percentage has continued to increase virtually every year since 1973, when African-American abortions represented just 23 percent of all abortions.

At the same time, public opinion polls reveal that African-Americans actually hold slightly stronger opinions in favor of life than the population as a whole. A national poll conducted by the Los Angeles Times in March 2001 found that 56 percent of African-Americans oppose most abortions compared to 54 percent of Caucasians. Even more striking is the 20 percent who would make no exceptions compared to the 11 percent of the Caucasian population.

Approximately four years ago Dayton Right to Life decided to seek out some answers as to why the personal values of the African-American community fail to translate into lower abortion rates or any apparent interest in the pro-life movement. We started by enlisting the help of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Dayton to conduct some focus groups with African-American women.

Based on our initial findings we continued to conduct a number of personal interviews, group discussions and more formal focus groups over the next two years. The participants in this research ranged from teens, single mothers, fathers, pastors and professionals. Some had experienced abortion; many considered themselves to be "pro-choice."

The following are some of our key findings that we hope will foster a concerted effort by the pro-life movement to reach out more effectively to our African-American neighbors. It is important to keep in mind that not all African-Americans think alike anymore than any other group of people. These findings represent dominant opinions identified in our research.

One of our most striking findings was the high rate of denial many of the participants exhibited over the rate of abortion within the African-American community. Some accused us of making up the figures to "make them look bad." As one woman told me, "When I first heard you saying these things, my reaction was 'Here we go again. White people telling us one more thing we are doing wrong.'"
Men especially seemed to believe that abortion is a "white problem," as we were frequently told, "Our women don't do that." Some men expressed disbelief that any black woman would seek an abortion out of economic necessity. The thinking went along the lines that black women are used to being poor and that somehow there is always room made at the table for another mouth.

The women tended to believe that while abortions did indeed occur, they usually were reserved for serious situations where no other option was perceived to exist; and economics often played an important part. For years, African-American families have dealt with out-of- wedlock births by absorbing the child into the family structure with grandparents or aunts informally adopting the child. While this continues to happen to a considerable degree, the number of women who chose otherwise has gone unnoticed.

As more opportunities become available to African-American women, they appear less willing to be straddled with caring for children, contributing perhaps to one statistic that virtually everyone found very disturbing. That statistic is that married black women have an abortion rate almost five times higher than that of married Caucasian women.

Another prevalent finding is a disconnect between attitudes towards abortion and attitudes towards the freedom to have an abortion.The same person who expressed strong opposition to abortion would staunchly defend abortion rights. This is more than just the standard, "I am personally opposed to abortion but…" argument that pro-lifers are so used to hearing. Many African-Americans believe that abortion is a right that white women have always "enjoyed." Even when abortion was illegal, white women had the resources to find one. Roe v. Wade extended a right to black women, which they were previously denied, and thus has become an extension of other newly accorded civil rights. This perhaps explains why so many black civil rights leaders can be found in the forefront of the pro-abortion movement.
This argument might best be countered by presenting evidence as to the devastation that abortion is having on the African-American community. Abortion is the leading cause of death in the community, causing more loss of life than all other causes combined. The loss of 13 million lives from abortion since 1973 has certainly contributed to the fact that Hispanics have now replaced African-Americans as the largest minority group in the nation.

There is a striking lack of knowledge about the pro-life movement within the African-American community. In our initial focus groups no one was able to identify even what issue Right to Life was involved with. When prompted that we were an organization that was opposed to abortion they tended to identify us with stereotypical negative media images, such "those people who bomb clinics." While some were familiar with and had actually utilized area pregnancy resource centers, they did not really connect them with abortion opposition.
On the other hand, virtually all participants correctly identified the services provided by Planned Parenthood and had generally favorable opinions of that organization. They saw Planned Parenthood as a place where teens especially could go for help when their parents were not available. We did detect, however, a real awareness and concern over the fact that Planned Parenthood tended to push women into having abortions.

In one of the few in-depth sociological studies we found related to abortion and the black community, it was noted that while in the seventies attendance at church was a contributing factor toward an African-American woman's opposition to abortion, this factor had disappeared by the nineties. It is our theory that as the abortion issue became more and more a dogma of the Democratic Party, the Black Church, which has been intimately linked to the party, grew increasingly silent on the issue. This perhaps accounts for the muddy theology we heard so frequently expressed on the issue.

Many of the women we talked with expressed strong religious opposition to abortion. I don't believe we heard any women express the belief that abortion was not morally wrong. However, they also believed that God readily forgives abortion since God knows the personal circumstances that would make abortion a woman's "only" option. Very little pro-life literature held much appeal to the African-American women in our study. It was generally perceived as being "written by white people, for white people."

With these things in mind we have developed two new brochures that hopefully will be more effective in reaching the African-American community. The first one, which we refer to as "The Answer" is directed towards women facing a crisis pregnancy.
Deliberately included in this brochure are several photos of aborted babies, something many pregnancy centers have avoided using. Our research revealed that these photos, which by and large have never been seen in the African-American community, had an extremely powerful impact.

We also found none of the negative reactions to these photos which have led many pro-life groups to stop using them. Women who had experienced abortion appeared to feel most strongly that these photos should be shown.

The second brochure, "The Question" is designed to awaken the African-American community to the toll that abortion is taking on their people. We have found this brochure to be very helpful in starting dialogue on the issue.

Our research also revealed another area holding great promise: the promotion of abstinence. We have found the African-American community in our area to be extremely receptive to abstinence education. The greatest contributing factor to the high African-American abortion rate is the extremely high out-of-wedlock pregnancy rate.

The African-American community have long been a target of organizations such as Planned Parenthood. They are recognizing that the contraceptive approach simply is not working, regardless of any moral considerations.

The pro-life community, for a multitude of reasons, has failed to make a concerted effort to have a presence among our African-American neighbors. This needs to change.

In conclusion, let me say that our findings reveal that the pro-life message has not fallen on deaf ears in the African-American community. Rather, it is that what is not spoken cannot be heard. Cultural differences can no longer serve as an excuse for our silence. No one comes to a party without an invitation. We encourage you to start sending out those invitations and believe that if you do so, you will be surprised how many will come!

Peggy Lehner is President of Dayton Right to Life. If you would like to contact Dayton Right to Life for additional information or for a sample of some of their materials, you may email them at info@dayton.righttolife.org. Dayton Right to Life's address is 211 S. Main St. Suite 830 Dayton, Ohio 45429