Julian Bond was the NAACP Chairman from 1998-2010 and on multiple occasions boasted of the high black abortion rate. He proudly declared that "black women exercise that precious right at a rate far exceeding their percentage in the population." He also declared "the right to abortion is as basic as the right to sit at a lunch counter."
The tragic truth is that he is right. In 2010, 35.7% of abortions were by self-identified black women (1.) while non-hispanic blacks made up 12.7% of the female population (2.). Black women truly do exercise the right to abortion at a rate far exceeding the population, and this has led to devastating consequences. In New York City, more black babies are aborted than born, and the African American abortion rate is incredibly high in most major cities.
One analysis of CDC data, estimates that 13 million African Americans have died from abortion since 1973, while the next leading cause of death is heart disease at 2.2 million. This is not something to celebrate, but something to grieve. It does nothing to empower and advance colored people, and it is one of the reasons #WhyWeMarch.
The video of Julian Bond's statements were compiled by The Radiance Foundation and can be viewed below.
1.) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Abortion Surveillance- United States (2010). MMWR 2013;62, No. 8. Accessed at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/ss/ss6208.pdf on Jan. 9, 2015. Note: 2011 data is available at
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss6311a1.htm but was not included for comparison purposes.
2.) U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau. Women’s Health USA 2012. Rockville, Maryland: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2013. Accessed at http://www.mchb.hrsa.gov/whusa12/pc/pages/usfp.html on Jan. 9, 2015.