Black pastors oppose Ohio abortion amendment: ‘The Black community supports life’

Over 100 Black pastors from Ohio have signed an open letter denouncing Issue One, the upcoming referendum vote that would enshrine abortion as a constitutional right. 

The vote, which is scheduled to take place on November 7, would “establish a state constitutional right to ‘make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions,’ including decisions about abortion, contraception, fertility treatment, miscarriage care, and continuing pregnancy.” If passed, it would allow abortion up to birth and nullify the state’s current parental notification laws.

The bipartisan group of signees drew attention to the racist reality of abortion, citing a recent state report that revealed 48% of abortions in 2022 were committed on Black women, despite the fact that just 14 percent of the state’s population is Black. 

“The Black community has been the target of the abortion industry for decades, beginning with the deplorable ideology of racist eugenicist Margaret Sanger, whose Planned Parenthood organization purposefully established abortion mills in minority neighborhoods and targeted our communities for abortions. Sanger’s mission was to kill Black babies before they entered the world, and Planned Parenthood and the for-profit abortion industry have allowed that mission to continue to this very day.”

This warning was echoed by Bishop Patrick L. Wooden in a recent Protect Women Ohio video ad. 

Bishop Wooden

“What is the No. 1 killer of us? It’s not the police,” Bishop Wooden said in the video. “It’s abortion.”

The letter writers warned that the amendment “[I]s more extreme than Roe v. Wade, and it will allow for painful, late-term abortions through all nine months of pregnancy – even after an unborn baby can feel pain. It will permit our children to undergo abortions without parents knowing. And it will continue to rob generations of Black women and men of the insurmountable joy of parenthood.”

“Enough is enough,” they continued. “The Black community supports life. We have a rich pro-life history, rooted in our love of family and in our abiding faith and belief that God is the ultimate author of every life.”

“As Black faith and community leaders across Ohio who are called to care for God’s people, we urge our fellow Christians, the Black community, and all Ohioans who believe in the inherent value of every person to vote NO on Issue 1 this November.”