A Word from Cherilyn Holloway (Pro-Black Pro-Life)

A problem solver by nature, I see both the pro-life community’s focus on changing abortion laws and the pro-choice community’s focus on expanding abortion as “downriver solutions.” Desmond Tutu famously said, “There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.” As I sought to determine why people are falling in, why women are seeking abortions, I realized housing inequalities, unequal access to education and jobs, implicit bias in the health care system, limited options for childcare, abysmal parental leave, and more create the current that bring women downstream to abortion clinics or crisis pregnancy centers. 

Both sides acknowledge that Black women have abortions at higher rates than white women. Black women have 38% of abortions in the US though make up only 12.4% of the female population while white women have more of the abortions in the US though they make up 60% of the female population.

And both sides agree that lower income women have abortions at the highest rates. A staggering 75% of abortions patients in 2014 were women at or below the poverty line though only ??% of the female population lives at or below the poverty line. 

The elephant in the room for the pro-life community is that economics, not laws, are the clear issue driving abortions in our country. Statistics suggest that of single Black women making a salary of at least $40,000, 70% chose to keep their baby when facing an unplanned pregnancy. I see this as proof that Black women who feel economically stable are more likely to make the choice not to abort.

While Democrats promote policies that would help a woman considering an abortion choice because of economic reasons (child tax credits, paid leave, and expanding food assistance, etc.), in reality these (like abortion) are just temporary solutions to a bigger problem. And their Republican counterparts seem offended at the idea of providing these safety nets and supports claiming it will only make the lower-income population more dependent on the government (remember the famous Welfare Queen?). Lacking even these basic supports, Democrats double down on the necessity of abortion access. But this is a downriver, band-aid solution. 

The answer to economic stability for the Black community, a stability that might make abortion in our country unnecessary, is neither in the Build Back Better Bill, in abortion rights and access, nor in abortion laws because all of these provide a very temporary, short-lasting solution. True and lasting economic stability lies in digging up system roots that have been thriving and bearing fruit for far too long. 

The “economic elephant in the room” for the pro-choice community is that child tax credits, pre-k programs, paid family leave, as well as free diapers, wipes, formula, and parenting classes, do nothing to address the systemic issues the Black community faces. The Fair Housing Act (1968, amended in 1988) is a case in point. Though nearly 45 years have passed, the effects of redlining (that the federal government supported) are still in effects to this day. Those rotten fruit of the lingering racist roots continue to have a domino effect on education, health disparities, limited access to high-paying jobs.

Let’s be real, the pro-life community must wrestle with why marginalized Black women are choosing abortion at higher rates than any other population. If abortion rates dwindle as economic stability grows, why aren’t we in the pro-life community pursuing the economic stability of the mama as the best path toward protecting the life of her baby? And to those in the pro-choice community, if women are clearly more likely to choose an option other than abortion when they have the economic support they need, why the relentless focus on expanding access to abortion? 

What if we focused on strategically dismantling the systems that created these disparities and build those back better? Dare we use the word reparations? We are woefully behind in creating new systems, dismantling old ones, and designing lasting policies and community resources that not only support, but build up the Black community.

I do not relate more to the right nor the left wing of politics. I consider myself a whole bird who is determined to fly her community into the direction of life-affirming prosperity. It’s time to cool the rhetoric, to drop the tired talking points, and to stop demonizing the other side. A focus on the economic issues that drive abortion rates can be our common ground. Let’s travel up the river and address why people are falling in.