Black Women Matter, All Women Matter

Growing up in Southfield Village in Stamford, CT afforded me a great childhood. Really.  I had a great childhood even though I had fights with my neighbors and friends all the time. When it was time to fight or if we wanted to pick one, we drew a line on the ground and dared our opponent to step across it. Sometimes we put a stick on our shoulder and dared our combatant to knock it off.  If they had the cojones to do so, the fight was on and one or the other of us would get a beat down. It has been a long time since I encountered someone bold enough to cross the line or knock the stick off. In recent times, however, Planned Parenthood has done both. 

They first enlisted the aid of black leaders starting with the likes of W.E.B. DuBois, back in the early 1900’s all the way up to today’s cadre of advocates that include Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Nia Long, Star Jones, and Gabrielle Union. They have sought out the most trusted voices for the voiceless - the Black media and fed them talking points cloaked in the rhetoric of civil and women’s rights. Using the funds provided by many of those that fueled and supported Hitler’s Nazi regime, they have enlisted politicians, entertainers, sports figures and others to sell their services to communities of color. They have billed themselves as champions of Black and Latina women, fighters for the cause of their reproductive rights! They have even recruited Pastor’s to tell the 37% of Black women who say they are Believers, that it is morally alright to abort their child.

You've heard their slogans and talking points – trust Black women to self-determine their reproductive needs; there are disparities in health care and Black women are victims of those disparities; America, they say, has “a premature birth crisis” that “can be directly linked to our failure to provide adequate contraception and abortion care. They even go so far as to declare abortion helps with maternal mortality! (http://huff.to/1nODtBr) They proudly boast of having launched a multi-year campaign to reverse their ineffective outreach to communities of color ((http://bit.ly/1iwUJqw). Yes, Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry have crossed the line and knocked off the stick.

Taking off the cloak of secrecy that kept many of us blinded to their mission, they have tapped into major Black media outlets pushing their eugenics agenda. BET, Ebony, Essence, Madam Noir, and The Root, are just a few of the outlets that have published pro-Planned Parenthood and pro-abortion articles, commercials and opinion editorials. In February, Black History Month 2014, Planned Parenthood chose ninety-eight Blacks to honor, one for each year of their existence. Many of those honored could be considered among the movers and shakers in the Black community, influencers able to convince others to follow their lead. And like the Pied Piper, these influencers are persuading Black women to walk into the dens of abortion that are rendering them infertile, diseased or worse taking them off the cliff of death.

What makes this particularly disheartening is that these influencers know Planned Parenthood’s eugenic history. They know that abortion and birth control are counted the greatest advances in the eugenic toolbox as Frederick Osborne, past president of the American Eugenics Society boasted in 1973. They know that Roe v. Wade is the case that allowed the elitists to deal with “the populations we don’t want too many of”” as Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg revealed in her 2009 New York Times Magazine interview. How do I know they know? Because they tell us so in the many articles they publish. For example the Root’s Keli Goff and Madam Noir Ann Brown's recent articles about Black women saving a struggling Planned Parenthood both call Planned Parenthood's’ early history of racism “complicated”.  They both dismiss the fact that Planned Parenthood’s founder hung out with Nazi’s and others that believed in ethnic cleansing.

Despite mounting evidence that abortion and the centers where the surgery takes place are unsafe for women, and are actually dangerous, these promoters of abortion join with Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and the National Abortion Federation among others, calling for less regulation. The industry has acknowledged that it is not attracting reputable doctors (see Eyal Press' article in New Yorker Magazine, A Botched Operation), and substandard abortionists are filling the void. Yet, none of these honorees are fighting for the babies or the many women being injured every year. The Guttmacher Institute reports five percent of the 1.2 million abortions each year (about 60,000 a year) result in an injury that require hospitalization. Few of them reveal the truth about abortion in America – that there is a growing trail of women that can no longer have children having been rendered infertile by one of these substandard practitioners. They do not report on the many women that have bacterial and other infections from the filthy conditions found in many of these centers. They do not discuss the practitioners that sedate the women and rape them, nor do they discuss those whose centers do not have the needed medical equipment to resuscitate a patient if necessary.

Instead the culture is bombarded with rhetoric designed to lure women into the arms of those bent on destroying the life within them. And if the woman happens to die, well, who cares? She does not matter.

A line has been drawn in the sand. A stick has been placed on our collective shoulders. On which side will you fight? As for me and my house, we will do what our ancestors have done since the founding of this nation. We will fight for our lives because Black women matter, all women matter.

Action Alert 2: Georgia Women in Danger

Tears stream from my eyes because of the destruction of my people! Lamentations 3:48 (NLT)

Someone posted this comment on my blog post of last night (http://bit.ly/SIPI0F): "I'm not comfortable with calling Gov Deal and demanding that the killing centers follow state regulations on sanitation and elevators. I understand the idea --- slow 'em down for a little while by tying up some of their blood money in conforming to standards ---- but how will it look if the babies' fellow Georgians call in the hundreds demanding that they be murdered according to nice state regulations? What we needed to do in 1973 and every year since then is call in the thousands, every day, and demand that the Gov and legislature of GA nullify Roe v. Wade and simply enforce the murder/manslaughter laws in our Code against doctors, nurses and anyone else who performs abortions."

Really? Has the abortion debate become so politicized that we would not want to protect women from the physical harm is that heaped on top of the trauma of terminating the life of a child? Today there are women all over Georgia facing the same uterine perforation as the patient who was harmed in October of 2011. There are women all over Georgia facing the same death that happened in 2009 in one of these unregulated abortion centers. I pray our hearts have not become so calloused that we do not care about these women who actually believe the lie that abortion is the safest surgical procedure in the United States and Canada. I pray that our hearts are not so dark that we would not call the Governor and whoever else we need to call to ensure that the State of Georgia is not a party to the physical maiming or death of women.

Our state through our laws, policies and procedures has promoted a standard of medical care that creates an expectation of protection, whether through tort law or Georgia Code provisions. Before this information became available, I believed that every abortion center was subject to that standard of medical care. To learn this is not the case and has not been the case over the past 40 years is beyond troubling. Many of the abortionists in this state and the nation are not well credentialed. Some such as the physician in North Carolina who ranted about "ugly black babies" (http://bit.ly/NYEC9C) do not have privileges in local hospitals because of their dismal surgical performance. Others are being investigated for fraud as they bill the government for abortions through Medicaid (http://bit.ly/NXYKFu) . Centers such as the one in Chicago that did not get medical assistance for a patient whose abortion they botched show a wanton disregard for women and their "reproductive health" (http://exm.nr/MHrC8u). The reality is that the state of Georgia cannot assure us these atrocities are not routinely happening here. They have no way of knowing because they do not enforce the laws of the state and when they learn of a violation they take no steps to bring the violators into compliance.

Can we in good conscience ignore that our laws are violated with the blessing of our state? I cannot. I pray you will join me in calling our Governor and the Department of Community Health to make sure Georgia shows leadership in making sure every abortionist in Georgia is held accountable for violations of our laws.

Action Alert – Georgia Women are in Danger

I began writing this post last night. Not even midway through it, I had to set it aside, unable to write so grieved was my spirit. I had always thought that states did their due diligence to ensure that while they may not have agreed with the Roe v. Wade decision, they took care to promote and enforce a reasonable standard of medical care. Even Roe allowed for states to impose reasonable regulations where they had a compelling interest and in my mind a woman health is certainly a compelling interest. But I quickly learned this is not the case and abortionists in Georgia have had free reign to do what they will, whether it met a reasonable medical standard or not. And more disheartening is that this lack of regard for the health of the woman is happening on the watch of a "pro-life" Governor, Senate and House.

I received an email late last night from a fellow pro-life warrior that included this blog post from Jill Stanek: Stop the Madness, Georgia Abortion Clinic has Violated Regs and Waivers for two Decades. Jill makes it clear that the Atlanta Women's Medical Center's plan from its inception was not one that would place them "at the forefront of excellence and service in the provision of women's healthcare" as their website assures us is their mission. From the very beginning Atlanta Women's Medical Center chose to ignore the requirement for two story ambulatory surgical centers by refusing to install an elevator as the regulations required. They cited financial concerns. In maintaining "an organization dedicated to our own values and beliefs" Atlanta Women's Medical Center, has placed the health of Georgia women beneath their own values and beliefs while collecting multiple millions of dollars each year. As a result Georgia women are at risk.

Has anyone been hurt in this abortion center? Yes. In fact, documents show they perforated the uterus of a woman in 2011. When the Governor's Department of Community Health investigated, they found that the center had not met the requirements of the elevator waiver. They chose to ignore the requirements the waiver imposed to escort women from the second floor to the first citing a danger to their staff. They had no problem however, endangering Georgia women, allowing them to walk out of the center alone. Atlanta Women's Medical Center also failed to meet medical standards of care when charting patient information and sterilizing equipment used in the abortion procedure. Now what I do not understand is why on earth the State of Georgia would allow them to do so. More importantly why would Nathan Deal, Governor of Georgia, allow an abortion center found to have violated the regulations outlined in our laws, to continue its operation unchecked? Let's make sure we understand this correctly. An abortion center in Atlanta violates Georgia laws and regulations, hurting women in the process, and the Governor's Department of Community Health gives that abortion center a pass, ignoring the laws he is required to take care to faithfully execute as outlined in the Georgia Constitution.

I also do not understand why this multi-million dollar business would need a waiver of the regulations. This facility performs more than four thousand abortions each year and receives $450 – 850.00 for each one. Can someone explain to me why the State of Georgia waived the elevator requirement? It is also unclear why the Department of Community Health has not enforced penalties for AWMC's failure to meet the waiver requirements and to properly sterilize their instruments. I can't help but wonder how many women entered that National Abortion Federation certified center disease free and left disease ridden. And then I learned this: there are at least six abortion centers in the state of Georgia that perform thousands of abortions annually that are not licensed and are not under the jurisdiction of the Department of Community Health! One of those unlicensed centers killed a woman in 2009. The only penalty for the doctor – a $10,000 fine. All of this happening at the same time he was defrauding the state and federal government of hundreds of thousands of dollars. To add insult to injury, I have information that suggests there are also another two abortion centers that do not even report the abortions performed to the state.

Atlanta Women's Health Center is seeking a new seven year elevator waiver. The community comment period ends in five days. Please call (404-656-1776), fax (404-657-7332), and/or email (http://gov.georgia.gov/00/gov/contact_us/0,2657,165937316_166563415,00.html) Governor Deal and ask that the waiver be denied. Join me in calling on Governor Deal and the staff he appointed to the Department of Community Health to enforce the regulations on the books by no longer allowing abortion centers that perform thousands of surgical procedures each year to avoid licensing because of an obscure rule that allows doctors to perform abortions in their offices. Join me in asking Governor Deal to protect Georgia women. Do not take no for an answer!!!!

To My Sisters: Let’s Talk About It

There are some words that once spoken, cause a reaction. Abortion is one of those words. Simply speaking the word out loud in front of some would be cause for debate. Within moments of the word being uttered, the rhetoric would begin to fly with the rapidity of firing an AK-47. Those for abortion would fire off their arguments in pro-abortion language and those against abortion would fire off their arguments in prolife language. Within nanoseconds of its introduction, the conversation would no longer be about abortion, but would morph into a discussion about the economy, contraception or social justice concerns, i.e. you don't care about the children that are here. If someone were to attempt to bring the discussion back to abortion, again, it would soon become a discussion of everything but the topic at hand. Yet the discussion must be had. So how do we do it?

I urge you, with all urgency, to get these side discussions out of your system before we begin. The discussion to which you are being invited is not about contraception. It is not about the economic concerns of those seeking the abortion. The discussion is not about the social justice concerns that plague black folk in America. This discussion is about abortion and its impact on women and the black community. So if you must, get in the mirror and argue the other issues out. Get all the rhetoric out of your system and then prepare to join us for a real look at abortion in America in the 21^st century.

In preparation for our discussion, homework is required. There is a bevy of information that should be considered. Let's start with the numbers. New York City is the most extreme example of abortion out of control. In 2009, for every 1,000 black babies born alive, 1489 died in an abortion chamber (http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/vs/2009sum.pdf). In Georgia more than 59% are performed on black women (http://oasis.state.ga.us/oasis/oasis/qryMCH.aspx). In Alabama ((http://www.adph.org/healthstats/assets/resabort09.pdf)more than 57% of the abortions are on black women. In Mississippi (http://msdh.ms.gov/phs/2009/Bulletin/vr2009.pdf) the number jumps to more than 78% on women of color (Mississippi has only a 2.7% Latino population). There is a pattern no matter where you look across the country of abortions being performed on black women at three, four and five times their rate in the population of each state. I recommend you take a look for yourself.

Contrary to the claims of the National Abortion Federation and other abortion providers, abortion, is not among the safest medical procedure available. Abortion is a surgical procedure that has left a wake of dead and reproductively maimed women across the nation. Horror stories like that out of Philadelphia (http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-01-19/news/27088082_1_abortion-clinic-late-term-abortions-aborted-fetuses) are just the tip of the iceberg in the discussion of how women and children have suffered at the hands of abortionists throughout the nation. Kermit Gosnell, Stephen Brigham, Bertha Bugarin, James Pendergraft, Eileen Riley, Nicola Riley, Andrew Sutherland, Arturo Apolinario, Albert Dworkin, Rapin Osathanondh, Tyrone Malloy
and George Shepard, are just a few of a growing list of abortionists that have killed or reproductively maimed women. Perforated uterus/bowel, pulling out of the intestines, spreading venereal disease through unclean instruments and leaving parts of babies in utero are just a few of the complaints about these abortionists, some of whom have never been licensed to practice medicine in any state. None of these abortionists had the woman's health interest at heart. Most were in it for the multi millions of dollars they reaped. No one warned the women not to seek the services of these butchers, including the National Abortion Federation that visited Kermit Gosnell's clinic in 2009.

In addition to the reproductive maiming that happens across the nation, women are subjected to an increased risk of breast cancer as a result of their induced abortions http://www.abortionbreastcancer.com/The_Link.htm). According to available information "Seventy-two epidemiological studies have been conducted since 1957; and 80% of these studies have shown that abortion increases the risk of breast cancer independently of the effect of delaying the birth of a first child." Further information found in health care publications demonstrates an increased incidence of extreme premature birth risk for women with prior induced abortion as well as an increased risk of autism and cerebral palsy for subsequent children http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_6878/is_3_15/ai_n55302134/. And, few if any, discuss or research the psychological impact, such as post-traumatic stress syndrome, abortion has had on women (http://www.rachelsvineyard.org/PDF/Articles/Abortion%20and%20Post%20Traumatic%20Stress%20Disorder%20-%20Theresa%20.pdf) or those that attempt or succeed at suicide after an abortion http://www.abortionfacts.com/reardon/abortion_and_suicide.asp). Another well-kept secret of the dark side of abortion is that more than 64% of the women obtaining an abortion were coerced – by a parent, the father of the child, a minister or some other person in a trust relationship with the woman.

Abortion hurts women, and every day the degree of harm is becoming clearer. Whether the harm is inflicted through the abortionist, or the risks that come after, we may never know the extent of the harm because the statistics are not collected. We may never know the number of women that have been reproductively maimed and today want children but cannot have them because of a prior induced abortion(s). We may never know the numbers of women that have died at the abortionist's hand, because the abortionist covered his/her tracks by calling the death something other than what it was – a botched abortion. We may never have an accurate count of the number of women now suffering from breast cancer (or who have died from breast cancer) because we refuse to discuss the clearly documented link between induced abortion and breast cancer. Abortion hurts women and we must begin to talk about it.

Just recently, USA today featured an article: Black Population falls in major cities (http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/census/2011-03-22-1Ablacks22_ST_N.htm). Using the recently released 2010 census data, the article pointed to a host of reasons for the decline. What the article failed to include as a discussion point was the impact abortion has had on the decline in the black race across America. All but seven states have experienced some decline in the black population. Only four of the seven saw some degree of increase. These are all matters that we must set aside political doctrine to discuss since the facts reveal we are indeed into depopulation - black genocide. Sisters, lets' talk about it.