Tweets sent by the Planned Parenthood Black Community Twitter account this week have sparked a major outrage — particularly one message that said abortion is safer for black women than childbirth.
“If you’re a Black woman in America, it’s statistically safer to have an abortion than to carry a pregnancy to term or give birth,” one message read.
Another added, “Between 1998-2015, 16.1mil women accessed abortion care, 108 died. Btwn 2011–’13, BW accounted for 43.5 deaths of every 100,000 live births.”
If you're a Black woman in America, it's statistically safer to have an abortion than to carry a pregnancy to term or give birth #ScaryStats
— PP Black Community (@PPBlackComm) October 31, 2017
Between 1998-2015, 16.1mil women accessed abortion care, 108 died. Btwn 2011–'13, BW accounted for 43.5 deaths of every 100,000 live births
— PP Black Community (@PPBlackComm) October 31, 2017
Maternal deaths for Black women span age, education and income level. Racism, lack of access to quality health care and poverty kill us.
— PP Black Community (@PPBlackComm) October 31, 2017
The tweets were quickly picked up by conservative and pro-life news outlets.
Meanwhile, there were a variety of reactions to the initial tweet about abortion being safer than childbirth.
Some, like Dr. Sanithia Williams, supported Planned Parenthood’s message, arguing that abortion is indeed safer than giving birth for all women:
It’s true. It’s safer to have an abortion than give birth for ALL women. Instead of more Ab laws we need to focus on making birth safer!!
— Sanithia Williams,MD (@Dr_Sanithia) November 1, 2017
But others called the message “vile” and issued a slew of other strong responses. See some of them below:
Abortions always resut in death of at least 1, the most vulnerable. Abortion is not prevention, its murder. Correct wrong. Dont multiply it.
— Linda VOZ (@avoiceforothers) October 31, 2017
If you're an unborn black baby in NYC (Planned Parenthood's HQ), it's more likely you'll be aborted than born. https://t.co/es2hlVfiMx
— Susan B Anthony List (@SBAList) November 1, 2017
You are an abomination.
— Shelley (@ShelleyCuz) October 31, 2017
Disgusting. To encourage ppl like me to end our future children’s lives instead of empowering us to grow healthy human beings. Vile
— Antonia Okafor (@antonia_okafor) October 31, 2017
they don't want to empower YOU. They want to empower & enrich themselves. They are evil and wicked.
— Angel Rider (@AngelBleauEyes) October 31, 2017
Christine Rousselle of Townhall issued her own reaction to the tweets and to the general issue of the maternal mortality rate in the U.S.:
America does have an unusually high maternal mortality rate for a developed country, and this rate is especially pronounced among minority women. This is a problem that most certainly needs to be addressed, and some communities have seen great success in this regard. Plus, social systems should be improved to the point where having an abortion is unthinkable, and that pregnant women are able to parent and care for their babies. Obviously, these things will take time, but they are things that should be spoken about by people on all sides of the abortion debate.
But still, to say that it’s “statistically safer” for a black woman to have an abortion than to have a child is horribly misleading. Abortion is never “safer” for one of the lives involved.
You can read more about the controversy here.