Abortion

African-Americans do not seem to have the same amount of passion for the highly charged political debates on the right to life and choice. It appears to me that African-Americans just go through with the pregnancies and think about taking care of the baby later. When I was a child and young girls got pregnant, their parents would send them away for shame of embarrassment. Of course, this was a time when our country was truly on a defined conservative pathway. When the family was asked where was (let us say Diane), they would say that she went to live with an aunt in a far away city or she went to the country. Obviously, she went to one of these places, but the reason was never given. Our parents probably knew very well why she left the neighborhood. It always amazed how older black women could tell her daughter that she was pregnant and she might have been just one month into the pregnancy.

The Alan Gutmacher Institute and the Center for Bioethical Reform both report that approximately 60% of abortion patients are white, that African-Americans are 3 times as likely and Hispanics are 2.5 times as likely. We have an idea of what they mean, but it is not clear what “as likely” really means. These numbers say nothing for the moral reasons behind the reasons for having an abortion. Numbers give us no information about how the females feels about the right to life or choice fit into the decisions.

It would be my theological guess that many if not most African-Americans favor life as they listen to their ministers preach about God, the life giver, survival, endurance and patient in this world. What I do not see is the issue being the politically charged issue for African-Americans as it is for Whites. Rarely does one see large numbers of African-Americans in the protest life for either side. One rarely hears of an African-American burning down an abortion clinic or killing an abortion doctor. Elsewhere in this patient, I would do a typical Pascal wager that most African-Americans would line up with choice.

The concepts right to life and choice are attached to so many other rights and choices that have been historically denied to African-American. Some argue that, in fact, if we have real choices in other areas of our life especially when racism and bigotry have influenced what we do in terms of career opportunities and choices about we fare in our everyday lives. The right to life is attached to “all of my life” and how well I am succeeding to reach my potential and not just related to “just bringing life into the world. Many of us are very frustrated that no matter how hard we work, how many sacrifices that we make or how educated we are, we never seem to “live the life that we have envisioned for ourselves or our offspring. The real question is “if I as an African-American female decide to the right to life based upon the arguments given by those who support this argument, do you also give as much energy and effort for the noble life that is also morally mandated by providing and supporting the right meaningful and purposeful lives.

As we are concerned about abortion and our young people, even though older women are now having babies in a variety of ways, Frank Furstenburg, in, “Attitudes toward Abortion among Young Blacks”. Although the study was done in 1970, the results may still be applicable today. The purpose of the study was to determine the attitudes of young black females towards abortion as a means of family limitation. The results were that younger black females were not highly receptive to abortion as a technique of family limitation (pg. 66). Once the woman begins to exceed her desired family size, she became more receptive to abortion. One would not deny that young African-American females are a high-risk population for pregnancies and abortions. The researchers admit that an attitudinal survey is an imperfect guide for such a project and to actual practice and that existing surveys contain very little information about the attitudes of African-American females towards abortion. The current political environment towards choice and right to life may also conflate the information.

This was a study conducted almost 30 years ago, but the results may still be relevant as values and attitudes may be hard to change over such a period. In spite of the inadequacies of a self-reported survey, the findings are yet interesting. In terms of abortion reform laws are that liberal in the state where these subjects live, they reported, “I’m not in favor of passing such a law. It would only destroy lives, I don’t think it’s right for any woman to get an abortion because they’re just hurting their womanhood”, (pg 67). These respondents, nevertheless, understood situations when abortion would be acceptable, e.g., mother’s life in jeopardy, which seems to be an attitude across the board. Generally, they believed that abortion should not be accepted as a method of contraception. My perception is that the attitudes of these young women are a reflection of their mother’s and the previous generation that I believe is conservative with respect to abortion. As stated previously. I believe that African-Americans keep the issue theological and not political. I see African-Americans balancing choice and the right to life and at times see both as viable ideas and adjusting their views on a case-by-case basis. However, the right to life and choice are conceived and understood with a larger, perhaps, worldview perception.

Charles Taylor declaration of hyper and meta values give some insight as to why some people or some subsets of our culture do not evaluate choice and abortion in the same way, even though it has some importance for all groups. Whether it is a hyper value some and meta value for others, is a matter of discussion and acceptance.