Dear Women of the African American Community,
I write this open letter in response to a recent resolution promulgated by the National Association of Colored People to show the harm in its words and in its beliefs regarding what it calls “reproductive freedom”—a euphemism for abortion. Abortion is the murder of a preborn child, but the NAACP wants you to believe it’s your “right.” I want you to understand the humanity and the beauty of the preborn child. And I want to help you see the truth that the NAACP does not want to share with you.
The resolution begins: “The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People . . . acknowledges reproductive justice as a core principle of civil and human rights and seeks to protect the right of all women, especially African American women, to exercise their reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy safely.”
Did you know that abortion disproportionately affects black babies? The Centers for Disease Control’s latest Abortion Surveillance Report found that 41.5% of abortions in the US are committed on black babies. It also found that “in 2021 compared with white women, abortion rates and ratios were 4.5 and 4.3 times higher among black women.”
The website Protecting Black Life reported that the 2010 Census results showed that Planned Parenthood targets minority neighborhoods and that “79% of its surgical abortion facilities are located within walking distance of African American or Hispanic/Latino neighborhoods.”
These are not new trends. Yet organizations like the NAACP want people—black women especially—to believe that abortion is both a “right” and a vital part of “reproductive freedom.”
But if the NAACP truly cared about you, it would explain the reality of your child’s creation—that a baby is a human being from the moment the sperm fertilizes the egg. And instead of encouraging you to kill your offspring, it would help provide the tools you need so you can raise that baby. It would direct you to pro-life pregnancy centers that offer physical and material assistance and that even provide shelter when needed.
This is what it means to truly love moms and babies.
Misleading you into thinking that bodily autonomy involves killing a baby who resides in your body is wrong—and may lead to not only physical problems but mental health problems as well. Abortion regret is real. As Project Rachel—a post-abortive healing ministry—explains, abortion “can form a hole in one’s heart, a hole so deep that sometimes it seems nothing can fill the emptiness.”
The NAACP resolution goes on to describe reproductive rights as “the composite of human rights that address matters of sexual and reproductive health.” Yet it does not address the fact that babies are human too and have human rights as well.
It then asserts that “the NAACP opposes legislation in every state, the District of Columbia, and all territories that seek to undermine the fundamental right to abortion.”
Let me be clear. There is no right to abortion. In every circumstance, abortion ends in the death of an innocent baby, who has just been stripped of his human rights.
As O. Carter Snead, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, wrote in 2022, “Until the latter part of the 20th century, no one seriously thought that the due process clause of the 14th Amendment—which was ratified in 1868, when abortion was a codified crime in three-fourths of the states—precluded the regulation or restriction of abortion.”
Roe v. Wade invented this Constitutional “right” to abortion that was never intended by the writers.
We don’t need more abortion. We need more programs that educate and equip mothers to not only care for their babies but to attain training or schooling so they can support themselves and their children.
Killing is never the answer.
A brilliant doctor named Mildred Fay Jefferson understood this. Jefferson was the first black woman to graduate from Harvard Medical School. Her legacy is one we celebrate during this Black History Month. Jefferson understood the science; she knew that all preborn babies are alive and deserve a chance to be born, and she spent her life advocating for the vulnerable.
At a National Right to Life Committee convention in 1976, Jefferson stated, “We want to return human affection to such an extent that no mother, no woman, no matter how extreme her economic circumstances, no matter how extreme the difficulties of her life, would not be willing to use that as an excuse or reason for getting rid of the child that she is carrying.”
So, while the NAACP encourages women to kill their babies, those of us who understand the value of all human life seek to protect them.
I pray that you see not only your value but the value of your preborn baby. As a single mom myself, I know it can be incredibly difficult, but help is available. There are over 2,700 pro-life pregnancy centers in the US staffed with people who love you and your baby and who will give you the tangible assistance you need. Never be afraid to ask for help.
Please remember that authentic love never involves murder or death. Your beautiful child has a right to life. Organizations like the NAACP want to make you believe that you cannot handle a baby; pro-life organizations want to show you how you can handle your baby.
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When did the NAACP become pro-abortion?
After Rev Martin Luther passed away at which time the NAACP began to truly believe their inalienable rights were from the government and not from God beginning with the Civil Right’s Act.
Dr. King accepted the Margaret Sanger Award from Planned Parenthood.
I was wondering about that also.
I used to attend the TLM with the president of the local NAACP. He loved the Latin Mass and had gone to the same grade school as Clarence Thomas. It would be very strange to imagine he headed the local chapter of an organization promoting feticide but sometimes we can be unaware of those connections to PP, etc.
The roots of the NAACP’s support for abortion and contraception go back much further than “Roe” and the 1970s, although the trajectory was not always direct or even:
Thank you for sharing that link Mr. Olson. That’s a shame.
The NAACP cares more about advancing the size of it’s leader’s bank accounts than it does about advancing the rights of colored people.
Back in the days of slavery, the owners of plantations used to r@pe or order other men to r@pe their female slaves to create a whole new generation of workers to either sell or work the plantation.
Susan seems to think that was perfectly acceptable and is essentially declaring herself to be on the side of the slave masters and r@pists of history with this dreck she’s written.
Kyle. Your statement makes no sense. How do you know the motives of these rapes (no lust involved?) and secondly, what is the relevance of the past to the morality of abortion today? I fail to understand your reasoning. Please clarify.
This seems to be Kyle’s style. Post an inflammatory drive-by and not respond to others’ comments with a defense. Based on his post here, I can understand the lack of a response from him. But that leaves unexplained the motive(s) behind his original post.
What? I don’t think you actually read this article. Your comments are absurd and unfounded. She said nothing about approving slavery. In fact, the entire article is about protecting Black people. Reflect inward and think about the destruction of families that abortion causes.
Were you reading and commenting on a different article Kyle??
Hi Kyle. I’m wondering if you have not read this article and maybe have it mistaken for another one from another author. In no way shape or form did Susan imply what you are accusing her of writing. So strange I find your comment.
yOU REALLY HAD TO STRETCH FOR THAT CRITICISM!! sHE’S AGAINST ABORTION THEREFORE SHE IS FOR THE SLAVE HOLDERS!! wOW!
(With respect to Ann Landers)
You have a point, but if you keep your hat on, maybe no one will notice.
She’s actually saying no such thing. Shame on you for a false and deeply manipulative comment.
This letter needs to be endorsed and signed by leading Black personalities.
The key to reducing the number of abortions in the black community is to reduce the number if out of wedlock pregnancies, this requires a two pronged effort. First, abstinence and second contraception.
If contraception worked, do you really think that Planned Parenthood would be so heavily promoting it?
If you choose to eschew contraception,fine. Just don’t try to force yourviews on others.will
Good grief. I doubt that Mrs. Hess, like myself, has the ability or power to “force our views on others” re: contraception. She asks a reasonable question. In the meantime, I recommend reading a bit of Evangelium Vitae:
How can it not? Are you trying to advocate a ban on contraception? If people choose to be irresponsible and cause unwanted pregnancies, how does that negate sensible preventive measures?
I’m advocating that, first, Catholics actually know and follow fundamental moral teachings. Secondly, I have no problem saying that A, B, and C are morally wrong even if they are legal. It’s not just my right, it’s a duty, to be carried out in a prudential and charitable manner. It’s not complicated.
All very well in theory, but many young families simply cannot deal with another baby. It’s amusing to hear Bishops who have never gotten up in the middle of the night to deal with a sick baby pontificate on the intimate sexuality of married couples. They don’t know what they are talking about. Period.
You are not going to change my mind and I am not going to change yours. I am not leaving the Church and I am not shutting up. It appears that right wing Bishops are trying to impose celibacy on the laity well a the clergy. No thanks. We an agree to disagree.
There are countless Catholic lay people, myself and my wife included, who think Catholic teaching about contraception is not just correct, but truly humane. In fact, we embraced it two years before we entered the Catholic Church, when we were still Evangelical Protestants.
“I am not leaving the Church and I am not shutting up.”
And I don’t want you leave the Church. But it would be far better if you used your obvious desire to pontificate on upholding what the Church actually teaches.
“… right wing Bishops…”
The Church teaches it. The Church is our Mother and is the Body of Christ. Bishops who faithfully uphold and proclaim what the Church teaches are orthodox. Again, not that complicated.
Re James Connor above – Yes. I’ll be waiting to see what happens next.
It seems that the NAACP, like the SPLC, may be coasting on its once-worthy goals.
Slavery is alive and well in all the Democratic controlled cities. They are trapped in an endless cycle of poverty, drugs, hopelessness, empty promises every 4 years of how Republicans are making it impossible for them to succeed, when in fact it’s the Democrats that keep them suppressed in lies and barely give them enough in state aid to live. As soon as someone tries to better themselves, the aid is quickly taken away. Very sad.
Thanks for your clarification, Carl.
Will above – I think the widespread, virtually universal, belief that readily available contraception decreases the number of abortions is questionable.
Widespread, virtually universal belief? Well, yes. Because we can’t determine if contraception prevents abortions (on a case by case basis), but it does prevent unwanted pregnancies.
The “official” position of the Church prohibits contraception, but the vast majority of the laity ignore it, Most Priests are reluctant to discuss it because they know the laity,with few exceptions will violently disagree. They cannot bring back the good, old days when everyone had 6 or 8 children. That ship has sailed. The Bishops know this and generally avoid the topic.
Focus on abortion and forget about contraception.
Contraception use prevents *some* pregnancies but not all. That’s less the case with long term injectable contraception.
Life begins at conception – this is a biological fact before it is a religious fact.
And
If it’s growing it’s alive – how could it not be so?
Will again – Unless I am mistaken, it has not been shown conclusively that readily available contraception reduces the number of unwanted pregnancies.
So what are you saying? It’s common sense that fewer unwanted pregnancies result in fewer abortions. Contraception does result in fewer unwanted pregnancies. You are mistaken.
Will, the BBC reported several years ago that oral contraceptives were reported to have been used by most women seeking feticides.
Human nature being what it is, people are forgetful. That’s a reason why longterm contraception is now promoted.
Maybe I am mistaken.
Certainly many people think (hope?) widespread availability of contraception reduces unwanted pregnancies.
I don’t see the evidence.
Will, a contraceptive culture increases unwanted pregnancies, as anyone who hasn’t imposed a refusal to think for themselves upon themselves can plainly comprehend.
“Focus on abortion and forget about contraception”.
This only makes sense if the common assumption that widely available contraception reduces the number of unwanted pregnancies is accurate.
Thank you Ms. Ciancio, for sharing these (sad) yet not surprising facts about the NAACP’s disrespectful policy toward lives of the preborn. But hooray for the loving Dr Mildred Fay Jefferson and her pro-life work!
And grateful, Editor Olson, for the supportive Church teaching within Evangelium Vitae, reminding we readers of Catholic sexual morality, based upon self-control as a grace of chastity from the Holy Ghost. And God offers married people a special grace. Sexual behavior is allowed in marriage only- as God intends the conjugal act to be both unitive and procreative therefore building up the domestic church. Otherwise God knows we will be hurt or will hurt others. And children deserve 2 loving parents to welcome them!
And congratulations upon being a single mother yourself, Ms. Ciancio! Your children are blessed 🌹You’ve walked the walk!
After divorce I was a single mom, too. Eucharist and Mother Mary’s Rosary graces have been sustaining me as my youngest daughter finishes college.
As a black person and paying member of the NAACP, I find this article offensive especially from an organization that has repeatedly discriminated against US citizens. I think maybe you should acquaint yourself with the word prejudice and irony before you print asinine articles like this. Better yet, c maybe you should address your prejudice on how Catholic Services is denying qualified applicants who would adopt children because of your prejudice view. Now go practice the “He who is without sin can cast the first stone” is a phrase from the Bible, John 8:7. I am sure you would not be even able to lift a pebble!
“Better yet, c maybe you should address your prejudice on how Catholic Services is denying qualified applicants who would adopt children because of your prejudice view.”
Can you be more specific? Example?
Interesting…..White women always seem to want to tell Black women what’s best for them. And this coming from someone who is a part of the Catholic church that benefitted from the enslavement of black females. The folks who are telling Black women about having babies, never seem to be around when those same women need help to care for those babies.
The NAACP might not care about Black women and their children, but neither does this author. The only thing you care about is religious dogma!
More interesting, here is a white woman Hilda Solis who in her time wanted to tell everyone including black women what’s wrong for them! Obviously if she was more tuned with doctrine as she should be she wouldn’t be doing that.
It’s good you came by here Judas, I wanted to tell you something. If you wear your hat too high it’ll only look small. If you wear your hat too low it’ll get dinged up badly and people will think you have no hat sense. And if you wear your hat in total poise of time and effort, you’d lose your way with your hat.
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2011/09/02/catholic-news-service-fail/
Judas, here is another white woman, no Latino traces here, Melinda Gates, she has it where she is telling all women and black women what they must do according to her own doctrines! Smarter than Silos. Smarter than Africans? Smart as Africans?
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2012/05/08/melinda-gates-poster-billionaire-for-how-a-rotten-catholic-education/
The reason Christ descended into Hell was to confirm the Judgment on the Damned. Judas.
He was to achieve this -as indeed He did win it- without having first to ascend to the Father. It would be by all His earthy merits. And they in Hell never saw His full Glory!
Their loss is heightened by His Premonition under His Father’s Command as He lay dead! No-one would have seen Him naked then, for His mother had dressed Him in death as she did in life.
Yea Judas! It is no wonder they in Hell forever scream “O that we had never been! We betrayed innocent blood!” going round and round their allotted places backsliding forever.
You are covering up for the evil men and their evil doctrine in charge of the evil women!
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2019/01/26/defining-dehumanization-up/
A white woman commenting on black people’s issues, issues that blacks should discuss among themselves, doesn’t sit right with me.
Are you white? If so, why are you commenting?
Are you black? If so, why are you commenting on what a white woman does?
Abortion is not a black or white issue, and it is deeply dishonest and manipulative to frame it in those terms. One does not have to be a certain gender or race to understand questions related to the human condition. Our common ground is our shared humanity. I don’t have to be Schizophrenic to counsel people who are Schizophrenic. The black experience is not so unique in the annals of human history that only black people can comment. You are just uncomfortable with any valid and legitimate criticisms of Harris’ morally bankrupt positions. Don’t hide behind race.
I wonder how many of the critics of the article missed the part about the 2,700 pro-life pregnancy centers that gives women real life alternatives to abortion? There is an article on this website “How Kamala Harris targeted pro-life pregnancy centers in California” that shows how the First Amendment rights of these centers was under assault by Kamala Harris. National Catholic Register has a recent article “Pro-Life Organization Sues Massachusetts Over Campaign That Targets Pregnancy Centers” about efforts to curtail their operations. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D–Mass.) wants to see them shutdown. After the Dobbs decision many of these centers were vandalized. It would appear that for some that “reproductive freedom” is a one-way street leading only to the abortion clinic.