Sunday, February 11, 2007

By Cindy V. Culp

Tribune-Herald staff writer

Nearly 10,000 Waco households will soon receive a pamphlet alleging that abortion providers are racist and target the black community. The idea, according to the activist sending it, is to mobilize black leaders against abortion.

But judging from the reaction of local leaders, the message won’t be well received. Not only do many in the black community not see abortion as a racial issue, but the language used in the tract is inflammatory.

On one page, for example, the pamphlet says, “Maybe the KKK didn’t invent abortion. But they certainly can’t be unhappy with the results” and “Klan Parenthood, we put the hood in parenthood.”

Another section dwelling on the number of abortions supposedly experienced by black women is introduced by the phrase, “Lynching is for amateurs.” That particular statement seems sure to arouse emotions, especially after last year’s public debate about whether the Waco community should apologize for the lynching culture that once thrived here.

The mailer also references the Jewish Holocaust and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, saying the loss of life from those events pales in comparison to the toll of abortion. The booklet ends with a picture of an abortion instrument labeled as “a weapon of mass destruction” and a photo of an aborted fetus.

The Rev. Rusty Thomas, who heads up a local anti-abortion group called Elijah Ministries, says he knows the pamphlet is provocative, but that’s by design. The point is to alert people to the “silent holocaust” of abortion.

The message is aimed especially at those within the black community, Thomas says, because of his belief that abortion is being used as a tool to diminish the black population. He contends that the founder of Planned Parenthood held racist viewpoints and that the organization continues to carry out that agenda by performing a disproportionate share of abortions on black women.

“(The tract) is hard-hitting,” said Thomas, who is white. “It may be a little sensational, but there is a true point behind it. If the information is false and hard-hitting, condemn me. But if the information is true and hard-hitting, we should open our eyes and our hearts.”

Some 9,500 of the pamphlets are being sent out and should arrive by early next week, Thomas said. They are being delivered to addresses within the 76704 and 76705 zip codes, he said, because he believes those neighborhoods are largely inhabited by minorities.

The tracts were provided to Thomas for free by an anti-abortion organization. But he put the $1,876 cost of mailing them on his credit card.

The purpose of the mailer, Thomas said, is to get the community thinking about the intersection of race and abortion in preparation for a guest speaker who is coming to town later this month. That speaker is the Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, a black commentator with conservative views.

A leading figure

Thomas touts Peterson as being on the leading edge of a national movement to get blacks more involved in the fight against abortion. One of the cornerstone beliefs of that movement, he said, is that the gains of the civil rights movement are being damaged by the decimation of the black population through abortion.

“Our black brothers and sisters are beginning to connect the dots,” Thomas said. “What do opportunities for a better job or a better education mean to a dead black baby?”

During his three-day visit, Peterson will preach at Church on the Rock and Church of the Open Door, both on Feb. 25. He also will address pastors during a luncheon sponsored by Christian radio station KBDE and speak at a press conference in front of Planned Parenthood of Central Texas on Feb. 23, Thomas said.

Although abortion is a focus of Peterson’s work, it will not be the only issue he talks about, said the Rev. Ronnie Holmes, pastor of Church of the Open Door. He also will address a range of other challenges facing the black community, he said.

“He’s just a good conservative voice who’s got a good grasp on reality,” said Holmes, who is white. “His message seems to be that right is right and wrong is wrong, regardless of skin pigmentation.”

Interviews with several black pastors by the Tribune-Herald, however, found little support for Thomas’ and Holmes’ crusade.

The Rev. Gaylon Foreman, minister at Carver Park Baptist Church in Waco, says he preaches against abortion but it doesn’t take on racial overtones. He says he has heard the argument that abortion is racially motivated before, but it doesn’t ring true to him.

The Rev. Nika Davis also rejects the idea that abortion is a racial issue. Instead, it’s simply a human issue, says the pastor of Waco’s Second Missionary Baptist Church.

The best way to solve the abortion problem, Davis says, is for Christians to work personally and privately with individuals wrestling with the issue, from whatever perspective. If people can be persuaded to put God in charge of their lives, they will move away from both the need for and the pain of abortion.

“What we need is Jesus truly governing our lives, who will save unborn babies, nurture people who have made mistakes, protect the innocent, raise a community above race and teach us how to love one another,” Davis said. “Jesus never passed out tracts on abortion, but instead he gave out himself. Every time he did, babies and adults were always saved.”

The Rev. C.J. Oliver, pastor of Greater New Light Baptist Church in Waco, has a somewhat different view. Although he says abortion is certainly an across-the-board problem, he is worried by statistics showing black women have abortions at a higher rate than other women.

Factors such as poverty and a lack of education likely are to blame rather than a racist agenda by abortion providers, Oliver says. But churches should still do what they can to help.

“I don’t think it is addressed as much as we need to be addressing it,” Oliver said.

A different motive?

Jo Welter, a leader in the local Community Race Relations Coalition, said the group did not want to comment on Thomas’ campaign for a variety of reasons. More than anything, Welter said, she believes the group shouldn’t get involved because it doesn’t appear that Thomas’ campaign is aimed at genuine dialogue.

“It seems like his goal is to inflame,” said Welter, who is white.

Pam Smallwood, executive director of Planned Parenthood of Central Texas, expresses a similar sentiment, saying Thomas is not trying to evoke an honest discussion about health disparities.

“Any reasonable person who looks at (the pamphlet) is going to recognize it for what it is, which is repugnant and radical,” said Smallwood, who is white. “That tract and (Thomas’) tactics go against all our most deeply held values . . . one of which is a celebration of diversity.”

Smallwood notes Planned Parenthood is a member of the Community Race Relations Coalition and that staffers and supporters are disgusted that the tract “trivializes the profound pain felt in this community related to the history of lynching.”

cculp@wacotrib.com

757-5744

By the numbers

Complete data about who gets abortions is difficult to come by for a variety of reasons. But information collected by two major sources — the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Guttmacher Institute — indicates black women have abortions at a higher rate than other groups.

Researchers say black women, as a group, have more unintended pregnancies and lower incomes than white women, factors which may influence the rate at which they have abortions. But the data also show that, at all income levels, abortion rates for black women are higher than for white women.

From Guttmacher Institute:

Of women getting abortions, 41 percent are white, 32 percent are black and 20 percent are Hispanic.

Some 18 percent of the pregnancies of white women end in abortion. For black women, it’s 43 percent and for Hispanics, it’s 25 percent.

From the CDC:

Of women getting abortions, 53 percent are white, 36 percent are black.

The abortion ratio is 491 per 1,000 live births for black women, 165 per 1,000 live births for white women.

Sources: The Guttmacher Institute report is based on data from 10,000 women who had abortions at 100 U.S. providers and were surveyed in 2000 and 2001. It classified women into the categories of white, black, Hispanic, Asian or Pacific Islander and Native American.

The CDC report is based data voluntarily reported to the federal agency in 2003. It broke down race only by white, black and all other races. Thus, Hispanic women are included in the white category.