Luke 4:18-19
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Our good friend Dr. Karen Stevenson, MD, a pro-life advocate, has written an insightful paper that confirms new views on the connection between racism, slavery, and abortion.
While studying the connection between abortion and slavery, one might wish to consider the research respectfully submitted by those who are determined to get to the bottom of the controversies and shed some light on the issue.
1. Excerpt from Utrum by Dr. Karen Stevenson
“As Kathleen Neal Cleaver states in her review of Dorothy Roberts’ book, Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the meaning of Liberty, “Roberts learned the significance of reproductive autonomy not from the contemporary abortion movement but from studying the histories of slave women who fought to gain control over their lives.”[1] Any treatise that discusses black women and their reproductive freedoms must take into account the impact of these freedoms on the black community as a whole. Thus, any issue germane to African-American women is also crucial to the welfare of the African-American family and by extension, the African-American community.
Abortion benefits African-American women because it allows them to exercise control over their reproductive destinies.
Slave women in America did not have the right to self-determination, and they had no autonomy over their bodies in any way. The profit driven slave economy benefitted tremendously from their toil and their procreative abilities. The slave woman’s children were not her own, and by the whim of her master, they could be sold away from her, never to be seen again. In post Civil War America, there was no further need for black women to procreate. In fact, her ability to procreate no longer served the greater good.”
Read the full text from Dr. Stevenson’s paper HERE
2. Excerpt from 2013 Message by Dr. Alveda King
“One can’t help but consider if disregard for the value of women and children is still at the root of abortion today. Consider this, many if not all of the women abolitionists should have been the forerunners of the Pro-Life Movement. Instead, we have a counterfeit “Women’s Rights Movement” which supports abortion and harmful contraceptive drugs today. Why in the world, how in the world could this be?
Remember, both women and men were allowed to be involved with the Anti-Slavery act. But, women could only go so far because they couldn’t vote, and many could not own property. Non-African Women and all slaves were actually considered to be chattel or property back then. So, it was hard for white and black women to be involved as abolitionists because white women were treated in very similar manner to African Americans, and most Black women were slaves. Unfortunately, the same thing was happening to the Native American Population. They were all considered to be chattels.
So the frustrated slave women often aborted their babies (Pure Breed and Mulatto) voluntarily as an act against sustaining future oppression. The Angry Caucasian Wives often coerced or forced abortion on their husband’s “Black Beauties” as a means of retaliation against their own brand of experienced oppression.
If you think about it, the same issues are at the heart of the Middle East Conflict. Sarah’s and Hagar’s sons are brothers with Abraham’s seed, yet their bitter battle still rages. My, what a bitter root of judgment in all these situations!
While many women who were abolitionists ended up becoming women rights activists, bitterness caused them to adopt a contraceptives agenda and finally an abortion agenda to exercise what they considered to be rights over their wombs. So now we have a war on babies and the wombs often led by women and men controlled by a desire for revenge and avarice.”
Read the full text of 2013 message HERE
3. Excerpt from Slavery _____ Jealousy of the Slave Mistresses
“It is a fact generally observed in slave societies that the mistress is more cruel in her treatment of slaves than the master. It is a fact confirmed by our chronicles, our folklore, our oral tradition, and travelers. There are on record not two or three, but scores of cases of the cruelty of the senhoras de engenho toward defenseless slaves.”
Reference: “Sex and Race, Volume III, by J.A.
Rogers, pp. 295-296. 1944 & 1972.
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