Pro-life African-American leaders around the country have had enough of the war against preborn black children, and they are working hard to ensure that abortion becomes a thing of the past, not just for African-American women and children, but all women and children.
While abortion numbers have been declining in the United States over the last two decades, African-American women have an abortion rate of 25.1 abortions per 1,000 women. Compare that to the rate for White women: 6.8 abortions per 1,000 women. The majority of Planned Parenthood’s surgical abortion facilities — 79 percent — are within walking distance of minority neighborhoods and have been caught accepting donations to specifically abort Black babies. (Planned Parenthood’s founder Margaret Sanger was a eugenicist.) Most shocking, in New York City, more Black preborn children are killed through abortion than are born.
In the fight to save these lives are many Black leaders. Whether running a pregnancy center or working to change laws, these individuals know the value of life and have dedicated themselves to helping women, children, and families to succeed. Here are five of them:
DJ Carter, Executive Director, Pregnancy Centers of Central Virginia
DJ Carter came close to becoming a victim of abortion himself. His parents were only 16 and 17 when they discovered they were pregnant. Their families decided on abortion as the solution, but preborn Carter was already at 20 weeks and the abortionist said it was too late. Carter was spared.
“My father told me that the first set of clothing that I had was paid for with the money that was supposed to be for my abortion,” Carter told CBS19 News regarding his reasoning for running a pro-life pregnancy center. “And that was a major thing that kind of shaped my life and allowed me to think about how maybe our existence is not our own, and how there’s often times issues and circumstances that can cause families to maybe not think that they can carry that child all the way to delivery.”
To help women and couples facing situations like his parents’, Carter, a husband and father, is now the President & COO of ThriVe Women’s Healthcare of Central Virginia, a non-profit that was recently vandalized. The services provided there are crucial for women, including free pregnancy testing and ultrasounds, and confidential counseling on options. If women choose life, the centers provide them with baby gear and other material items. They assist in obtaining insurance, and also provide various classes. Women who want to place their children for adoption are put in touch with adoption agencies, and woman without safe places to live are connected to maternity homes. Women who choose abortion may return for post-abortion care if they experience post-traumatic stress from their abortions. 65 percent of post-abortive women report experiencing this.
Dr. Alveda King, Director of Civil Rights for the Unborn
Dr. Alveda King, niece of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is a dedicated pro-life advocate who believes the pro-life movement is a continuation of the civil rights movement, and who believes strongly in helping Black women who are targeted by Planned Parenthood.
Currently serving as a Pastoral Associate and Director of Civil Rights for the Unborn, the American Outreach for Priests for Life and Gospel of Life Ministries, King also speaks for the Silent No More Awareness Campaign about her two abortions — one which she didn’t request and was committed during an exam. When she became pregnant again, her grandfather, Martin Luther King, Sr., told her: “That’s not a lump of flesh, that’s my great-grandchild.”
King has received the Life Prize Award and the Cardinal John O’Connor Pro-Life Hall of Fame Award. She has written numerous books, including, ‘How Can the Dream Survive if we Murder the Children?’ She has served on the boards of Heartbeat International, Georgia Right to Life, and MLK Center and is a member of the National Black Pro-life Coalition. She has six children and is a grandmother.
READ: Film documents Planned Parenthood’s history of Black genocide, eugenics
Roland Warren, President and CEO, CareNet
Roland Warren was raised by a single mother, and his path to Princeton University, was not an easy one. In a video for CareNet, he explains how he met his wife Yvette when they were both Princeton students and how they faced the challenge of an unplanned pregnancy. Suspicious that she was pregnant, Yvette went to Princeton’s student health center for a pregnancy test and was told she should have an abortion. She refused. The nurse suggested she wouldn’t get through medical school with a child, but Yvette wouldn’t accept abortion as the answer.
The couple got married and welcomed a baby boy who was present at his father’s graduation from Princeton. By the time Yvette graduated from Princeton, they were now parents of two. And she did get through medical school; in fact, she became chief resident of her program.
After two decades in the corporate world, Warren took the position of president of the National Fatherhood Initiative. He spent 11 years there, working to help fathers be more committed and responsible, before becoming president and CEO of CareNet in 2012. CareNet’s mission is to help women and men facing pregnancy decisions to be empowered to choose life. The organization’s Pregnancy Centers provide support to women that includes free pregnancy tests, information about options, diapers, baby gear and other material resources, parenting education, and post-abortion support.
Christina Bennett, Communications Director, Family Institute of Connecticut
Christina Bennett was moments away from being killed by abortion when a stranger stepped in a saved her life. In an article for Live Action News, Bennett tells the story of how her mother sat crying and waiting for an abortion when a janitor approached her and asked if she wanted to have her baby. She replied, “Yes!” The janitor told her, “Then God will give you the strength. Put your clothes on and leave.” Moments later, her mother walked into the operating room, saw a puddle of blood on the floor, and despite protests from the abortionist, she left.
After learning of this as an adult, Bennett focused her life on helping to end abortion. She worked with the Justice House of Prayer in D.C. and the pro-life group Bound4Life before moving home where she worked for a pregnancy center, helping women to choose life and care for their children. She is now the Communications Director for Family Institute of Connecticut and works tirelessly to save lives and help women who feel the only choice they have is abortion. She recently met with President Trump in the Oval Office along with other pro-lifers.
“I had an appointment to die, but God canceled it,” she wrote. “I received the priceless gift of life instead – a gift I am forever grateful for. […] At times I’ve wondered why I made it out and [other babies] didn’t. There are no answers to satisfy such a question. […] I owe it to them to speak on their behalf. That is my passion and my privilege.”
Editor’s Note, 6/10/20: The name and website of the ThriVe have been updated since the original publication of this article.
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