If you are wondering where the Black clergy stands on a pivotal election issue—look no further than Ohio.
According to a recent Fox News story, more than 100 Black pastors have signed a declaration opposing a measure that would enshrine abortion access in the state constitution. The bi-partisan group has declared that abortion has had a negative effect on the Black community.
“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.”
They added, “The future of our state, our society, and our race is at stake in this amendment, and we must protect them.”
The open letter cites statistics that claim that “only 13 percent of Ohio’s population is Black, yet 48 percent of abortions undergone by residents of our state are performed on Black women.”
It also claims that more than “20 million” Black children have been “killed” by abortion since 1973.
However, the letter does not address medically necessary abortion procedures, nor the fact that research shows that, in addition to medical necessity, people tend to seek abortions because they do not feel financially prepared or are worried about their age, health, or marital status or caring for their children.
While it is true that the majority of people who have abortions are non-white, the statistics also do not address the systemic injustice that unjustly affects minority populations—nor do they address the high Black maternal mortality rate where Black women are more likely to die in pregnancy.
The open letterclaims that “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.”
It claims that “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.” However, the letter fails to address that “Enslaved Black women were raped and forced to carry children, while their descendants faced involuntary sterilization throughout the 20th century.”
It also fails to address the fact that Black women are more likely to suffer from ectopic pregnancies, one of the leading medical uses of abortion.
In fact, the letter—whose signees are overwhelming male— reinforces entrenched interpersonal and medical racism where “people stereotypically associate Black women with poor sexual decision-making and childrearing, which means they are less likely to be believed when they say they need an abortion for medical reasons, especially if they are poor,” said Candice Hargons, PhD, an associate professor of counseling psychology at the University of Kentucky who studies sexual wellness and healing racial trauma.
Issue 1 in Ohio continues to illustrate that abortion—and the possibility of it being enshrined as a medical right or denied with a federal ban—will be on the ballot from state to state this year. Black voters deserve the right to understand how this will affect our communities.