Recently, the New York Times reported on the gruesome 20th century history of sterilization in the United States and centered it on two black sisters who were coerced into being sterilized when they were teenagers. At least for some, the abortion history in the latter part of the century had some similarities. Jason Riley noted,
When the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade in 1973, polling showed that blacks were less likely than whites to support abortion. Sixties-era civil rights activists like Fannie Lou Hamer and Whitney Young had denounced the procedure as a form of genocide. Jesse Jackson called abortion “murder” and once told a black newspaper in Chicago that “we used to look for death from the man in the blue coat and now it comes in a white coat.”
This indicates that it has not been only religious and conservative black Americans who have opposed abortions. Indeed, In 1994, two leftist economists William Darity and Samuel Myers – among leaders of the current campaign for “baby” bonds and reparations to ameliorate the racial wealth inequality – wrote,
Groups like Planned Parenthood Federation explicitly advocate reduction in the number of children born out of wedlock via family planning measures, including abortion. Such measures, Planned Parenthood Federation spokespersons have argued, will be a crucial step in reducing the supply of welfare-eligible persons. …We have referred to this outlook as the doctrine of preemptive extermination of the unborn, who are anticipated to become part of the permanent poverty population.
These economists issued their condemnation when black teen pregnancy rates had peaked. At the time, more than 20% of black women, 15-19 years old, became pregnant annually with about half giving birth while the vast majority of the other half had abortions.
A number of academicians put the best face on black teen motherhood. Arline Geronimus claimed that teen motherhood was quite rational given earlier onset of chronic diseases (e.g., hypertension) impacting birth outcomes in Blacks relative to Whites. Her “weathering hypothesis” has been supported by numerous studies over the last 20 years.
‘A baby has the power to solve everything’
In their influential book, Promises I Can Keep, Kathryn Edin and Maria Kefalas argued that the lack of jobs and decent schools in high-poverty communities created an objective situation in which parenthood is perceived as the only avenue to a meaningful life. For many of these adolescent women, “A baby has the power to solve everything,” they wrote. The researchers Melissa Kearney and Philip Levine further posited that this “culture of despair” is a result of society’s extreme income inequality.
These academicians ignored the evidence that these young women were not choosing motherhood because it was rational from a health perspective or psychological needs. Many poor black girls lacked employment opportunities and so sought money by partnering with problematic men. As Patricia Collins documented, “young women engage in casual sex with men” with the “unstated assumptions that they will be rewarded with a little financial help.” Some scholars, including sociologist Frank Furstenberg suggested that unwanted black pregnancies were strongly associated with younger teens entering coercive sexual relationships with older men. Elijah Anderson documented the ways that these relationships reflected manipulation by males seeking sexual conquests as opposed to lasting partnerships.
Indeed, this is why so many of the pregnancies ended in abortions which Darity and Myers suggested were encouraged by liberal institutions like Planned Parenthood in the Margaret Sanger eugenics tradition. Nationally that year, black live births were 40% more than black abortions. By contrast, in New York City where there were no restrictions on access to abortion services, black abortions were 45% percent higher that live black births. For comparison, in 2010, Hispanic live births in New York City were 2.66 times larger than Hispanic abortions and 3.95 times larger nationally.
Taking control
In the last 15 years, black women have gained more control over their lives. Between 2006 and 2013, nationally the share of black women 25-29 years old with no more than a high school degree declined by 27.2% while those with at least a bachelor’s degree rose by 48%. Many more black girls than in the past came to believe they could better their lives and so were not caught up in a culture of despair. As a result, black teen birth rates dropped by 44% between 2006 and 2014. With this reduction, the black abortion rate almost halved so that in recent years NYC black abortions, though still much higher than white or Latino rates, are no longer more than black live births.
This evidence indicates that the likely ending of federal support for abortion rights might force more behavioral changes in the black than white communities. However given the complex history of abortion in the black community, it explains the ambivalence to the pending court ruling. Most importantly, one can hope that whatever new impediments the abortion ruling will create, black women will show the same resilience that will enable them to continue to move forward to gain better lives.
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