A World in Uproar

There are two more factors , the declining state of the black family and lack of communication between parents and teenagers, that should be observed when trying to explain higher abortion rates within the black community. According to Child Trends Data Bank…

“Black children are significantly less likely than other children to be living with two married parents.   In 2008, 35 percent of black children were living with two parents, compared with 84 percent of Asian children, 75 percent of non-Hispanic white children, and 64 percent of Hispanic children.”

Not only that but, most conservative black parent(s) feel that discussing sex with their kids will encourage them to engage in sexual activity. An article  reveals that a Harvard study shows that 40% of parents talk about sex after their teens became sexually active. Pepper Schwartz who is a sex educator feels that…

“Sex education is a lifelong thing [and parents] need to be able to pass on good information.”

Both of these factors led to issues that cause pregnancies. For instance, young teenage girls lacking a male figure can begin to search for that attention and love from young adult males. Another example is that the curiosity of adolescences can lead them to engage or find out information about sex from other people, possibly the wrong people, resulting  in a lack of sex education and more unintended pregnancies that majority of the time result in abortion.

 ~Stay tuned~

There are several possibilities that could come from the high abortion rate among black women like demographics and the sex ratio. Because of the increased number of abortions of one of race, the amount of people in the black community will become smaller compared to others. Another possibility is that people will become dependent on this method and less responsible because they feel that they have a quick fix to the unintended pregnancies. Although there has been very little  studies on how abortion rates affect the nation as a whole, it possible that it could affect th nation in the ways explained above.

~Stay tuned~

Here is a graph that I found that depicts the attitudes or opinions towards and about single mothers.

~Stay tuned~

Stereotypes, stigmas, and public attitudes have been known to be very powerful instruments in sculpting how people interact with each other. In a recent survey, results showed that 56% of Americans don’t think single mothers are “respectable.” If majority of the population believe that single mothers are not respectable, then how can one expect women who have unexpected pregnancies to embrace possibly being a single mother specifically black single mother considering the negative connotations that come along with it. Another factor is religious attitudes towards contraceptives and having children outside of wedlock.

“Conservative Protestants tend to view contraception use outside of marriage as morally wrong, connecting such usage as an encouragement to promiscuity.”

Last but not least, the attitudes of black men are less favorable of contraceptives than black women. The has a big impact on the increased rate on unintended pregnancies and thus the high abortion rate among black women.

~Stay tuned~

One of the biggest factors that forces black women to result to abortion is the lack of finances to support a child and provide it with a good life. According to Lifting As We Climb: Women of Color, Wealth and America’s Future:

-Single Black women (across all ages, from age 18 to 64) have a median wealth of $100 and single Latinas have a median wealth of $120. Single white women clock in at $41,000.
-Almost half of all Black women and Latinas have zero wealth or negative wealth. That is, their debts exceed their assets.
-Young women (aged 18 to 35) of all races have a median wealth of zero.
-And even though white women (from 36 to 49 years old) have a median wealth of $42,600, women of color in the same age bracket have a median wealth valued at $5.
-Women of color 65 and older are least likely to receive retirement income from pensions or other assets.

In fact,  62% of all black households are single parent homes and 42% of blacks are unmarried. It’s very difficult to provide all the needs of a child if there is only one income, in which case may be about $20,000 a year. In 2007, U.S. Census Bureau reported that the average black  family median income was $33,916. Only 49% of blacks used employer-sponsored health insurance in 2007 and 19.5% are uninsured.  In a survey by Allan Guttmacher Institute, 66%  all of women said the get abortions because they couldn’t afford a child.

~Stay tuned~

Although the south is more conservative and possesses a more critical outlook on abortion, the highest abortion rates among black women occur in that part of country and continue to increase substantially.

~Stay tuned~

The documentary FROM DANGER to DIGNITY: The Fight for Safe Abortion was produced by Dorothy Fadiman, Beth Seltzer, and Daniel Meyers in 1995. It’s about the movement towards legal abortion. It will shed some light on  
self-induced and botched abortions before the Roe v. Wade decision. It will also give some insight into how it was viewed as shameful and criminal. Here is a clip from the documentary…

~Stay tuned~

This graph illustrates the higher rates among black women compared to other races. This may give some insight into finding out what factors could be contributing to the high rate of abortions by black women. It could also show correlations between pregnancies and other reproductive issues. It could also help to figure out if it is due to some type of cultural attitudes or several other things.

~Stay tuned~

In 2005, there were 1,206,200 legal induced abortions occurred nationally. California, New York, Florida, Texas, New Jersey, Illinois, and Missouri had the highest number of abortions.

CA…208,430    NY…155,960   FL…92,300   TX…85,760   NJ…61,150   IL…50,970   MI…40,600 

Now, the highest percentage of abortions, 37 percent of all abortions, are among black women.  According to State Health Facts, most of these abortions among black women are occurring in the south and southeastern parts of the United States.

    73.6% of abortions in Mississippi are by black women

    67.4% of abortions in Maryland are by black women

    57.4% of abortions in Georgia are by black women

    56%  of abortions in Alabama are by black women

    52.5% of abortions in the District of Columbia are by black women

69% of black women have unintended pregnancies

The Georgia General Assembly has a bill that will try to address this concern…

A person commits the offense of criminal abortion when that person performs an

 abortion:

 (1) With the intent to prevent an unborn child from being born based upon the race,

 color, or gender of the unborn child or the race or color of either parent of that child;

(2) With the knowledge that the pregnant woman is seeking the abortion based upon the

 race, color, or gender of the unborn child or the race or color of either parent of that child;

 (3) With the knowledge that the pregnant woman is seeking the abortion as a result of

 coercion; or

 (4) In violation of any of the following: Code Section 15-11-112, subsection (b) or (c)

of Code Section 16-12-141, Code Section 31-9A-3, or Code Section 31-9A-5.

Most of the black women that make up this percentages are between the ages of 15 and 44. Fifty-four percent of all women who have abortions reported that they used some type of contraceptive method. This drastic rates of abortions by black women deserves some research to see what exactly is causing this trend in those particular regions in the United States.

~Stay Tuned~