ATLANTA, Feb. 11 /Christian Newswire/ -- In 2008, blacks made up 30% of the population but over 57% of the abortions in Georgia. Today national black leaders gathered at the Georgia State Capitol to join a bipartisan group of black and white Georgia legislators to call for an end to the disproportionate levels of abortion in the black community in Georgia.
"Black children are aborted at three times the rate of all other populations. Georgia leads the country in the number of reported abortions performed on black women, 18,901 in 2008 alone," Catherine Davis, Director of Minority Outreach for Georgia Right to Life reported.
Dr. Johnny Hunter, President of LEARN noted, "The civil rights activists did not fight to make lynching safe, legal, and rare. They ended it. We must fight to end the ugliest form of racism: abortion."
Dr. La Verne Tolbert, former board member of Planned Parenthood stated, "Abortions increase where clinics are located and where are those clinics located? Ninety-four percent of the clinics are located in urban areas where blacks reside. In my own neighborhood which is an African American neighborhood in California, there are three abortion clinics strategically located all in the same area."
On Tuesday, Representative Barry Loudermilk introduced bipartisan legislation that targets this very issue. The Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act, HB 1155, makes it illegal to knowingly perform, solicit or accept funding for either race- or sex-selection abortions. This bill is based upon existing federal legislation in the 111th US Congress.
"In Georgia, you cannot fire or hire a person based upon their race or gender. If discrimination is wrong in the workplace and in schools, those same standards should be applied to who enters this life and who doesn't. No child should be kept from entering this world based upon their race, color, or sex," said Representative Loudermilk
Dr. Johnny Hunter stated, "All the civil rights gained in education, voting, and equal job opportunities mean nothing to a dead black child."
Catherine Davis noted, "HB 1155 will not victimize or harm women, but will hold accountable those who would perform, solicit, or coerce an abortion because of the race, color, or sex of the child."
Dr. Alveda King, niece of Martin Luther King Jr. commented, "I commend Rep. Loudermilk and the other legislators for ending this last bastion of racism. Abortion is the civil rights issue of the 21st Century."
