Community | December 07, 2011 | 4 comments

Rep. Pence Claims Abortion Is The Leading Cause Of Death In The Black Community

source: http://thinkprogress.org/health/2011/12/06/383407/rep-pence-claims-abortion-is-the-leading-c...

WakeUpPeople
Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) joined several of his Republican colleagues today in touting proposed legislation that would ban physicians from performing abortions based on the fetus’s race or sex. Like most of the bill’s white male sponsors, Pence has suddenly developed a sense of outrage at discrimination against minorities — but only if those minorities are fetuses.

During the Judiciary subcommittee hearing on the bill, Pence claimed, “I say with a heavy heart that abortion is now the leading cause of death in the black community,” and equated abortion with slavery and the legislation with the struggle for civil rights and women’s equality:

Watch it: (VIDEO)

The loftily-named Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act (PRENDA) purports to somehow protect the “civil rights” of fetuses. In reality, it’s an opportunity for Republicans to denigrate the “family values” and character of communities of color that typically have higher abortion rates because of inadequate health insurance and poor sex education, among other reasons.

Pretending that terminated pregnancies cause more death and suffering than illness or violence is to be willfully ignorant of those ravages on the black community. The actual leading causes of death among African Americans include heart disease, cancer, stroke, homicide, and HIV/AIDS. According to the CDC, there are striking health disparities between blacks and other racial groups because of discrimination and lack of access to health care.

Because of inadequate health care, the AIDS rate among African Americans rivals that of some African countries. Homicide — often related to gang violence — is the leading cause of black males ages 12 to 19 years old.

If Republicans really wanted to do something to curb unnecessary deaths in the black community, they should improve access to health care, take on inner-city gang violence and provide more mentoring and education opportunities for young blacks — initiatives they have shown no interest in and have sought to defund.
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4 comments // Rep. Pence Claims Abortion Is The Leading Cause Of Death In The Black Community // Video

  • cmc101
  • Buckeye_Bill
    • 0
      Buckeye_Bill  

    • There must be something in the water that only Republicans have access to.

      I remember being taught about lemmings and how one would lead the rest over a cliff to their deaths. The age old "follow the leader" concept. But it's not like the leader is wanting the others to follow it to green pastures. Nopers, to certain destruction. And each one behind the other is blindly led to their end.

      I am beginning to believe the Republicans are working on the same scenario here where one of their leaders or rather a wannabe leader is heading for a place where only insanity rules supreme and the right wingers and conservatives of their Party are going with the flow? Are they impervious to what's being spoken?

      Has any one Republican supporter stopped to listen to what these presidential candidates are saying?

      Do they have some speical filters attached to their ears that only they can hear the coded pitch of the message being told?

      I wonder...

    • 6 months ago
  • AreOh
    • +2
      AreOh  

    • *Yawn* Oh look another white guy commenting on what ails the Black community.

      The leading cause of death in the Black community is the lack of equal access to necessary services. You cannot have an honest talk about what ails a community by just focusing on the symptoms and not the cause.

      This is just yet another example of another suit reaffirming what most bigots believe.

      Lame.

    • 6 months ago
  • WakeUpPeople
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