Walter B. Hoye II, both a former Michigan State football player and former pastor, is a full-time activist in the pro-life movement, serving as president of Issues 4 Life and the California Civil Rights Foundation.
According to Hoye, who is African American, abortion is currently “the biggest single negative force on Black American growth generally, including Black American economic and political power.” Hoye also considers abortion to be the defining issue of the 21st century, comparing it to slavery in the 19th century and segregation in the 20th.
According to a recent report from Christian News Wire, based on data from the National Vital Statistics Report (2015), the estimated number of aborted African American babies from 1967 through June 2016 is equal to 48.45% of the current total African American population. Hoye views this trend as a serious problem for the African American community, arguing that “the Total Fertility Rate for Black Americans is 1.8, which is again below the replacement level fertility rate of 2.1 or the rate at which a generation can replace itself.” He goes on to explain:
Keeping the Black American community smaller and less powerful reflects the racist, eugenic and genocidal mindset behind the abortion policies advanced by Planned Parenthood…under the guise of helping Black Americans. If “Black Lives Matter,” then the life of the human being inside the womb of his or her Black mother matters too.
Hoye is not alone. Other Black leaders have decried the disproportionate number of abortions in the Black community, including Dr. Alveda King (niece of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.), Democratic Louisiana Rep. Katrina Jackson, Rev. Clenard Childress, Ryan Bomberger of The Radiance Foundation, and members of the National Black Pro-Life Coalition.
