Outrage again exploded last month with the unveiling of Life Always’ latest – though less obviously racist – anti-abortion campaign, still targeting African-American women, in Southside Chicago. Claiming to use “advertising, research and confrontational truth to gain awareness, inform and educate [women] to choose life” the group’s latest billboard features an illustration of, the ironically pro-choice, President Barack Obama’s face, and reads,

 ‘Every 21 minutes, our next possible leader is aborted.’

The campaigns are certainly attention grabbing. My personal views aside, I’m not opposed to Life Always speaking out against abortion. We’re all entitled to free speech and Pro-lifers have as much right to campaign for their position as Pro-choicers do.

According to the US Census Bureau and the CDC Abortion Surveillance Summary report (2007), African American’s comprise of less than 13% of the American population and about 36 % of the country’s abortions. The loss of future black generations is obviously disproportionate to the population. Life Always aren’t wrong in drawing attention to the issue. It needs to be addressed and they shouldn’t be silenced because their message makes their opposition uncomfortable.

Throwing unpleasant facts and statistics in the public’s face isn’t an unconventional phenomenon. We’ve all seen the graphic and gruesome campaigns against smoking, those images of diseased organs and adverts of dying lung cancer patients. They’re unpleasant, but illuminating the reality in a shocking manner is considered necessary to save future lives. At face value, Life Always is doing the same thing, using “confrontational truth to gain awareness, inform and educate” the public about the issue of abortion in the black community.

But, Life Always is a sham of a Pro-life organisation, spearheaded by bigoted men who will never be able to empathise with the plight of the women they brow-beat. Confrontational, yes. Truth? That’s debateable.

Experts have been arguing over statistics, some calling into question the validity of Life Always’ figures by stating they’re not representative of the country’s actual figures for racial group abortion rates because of private healthcare options.

For instance, Life Always emphasised the 25,196 abortions (that’s where they get their “every 21minutes estimate from) reported but “forgot” to “inform and educate” the public that those 25,196 abortions were reported in all of Cook County, not just Southside Chicago..

But the billboards aren’t up in the rest of Cook County, they’re just in (the predominately black) Southside Chicago. They also “forgot” to “inform and educate” the public that it’s not a black woman that is aborting a child “Every 21 minutes”, but that a woman,  of any race, made the vey private, personal and difficult decision to terminate her pregnancy.

But the billboards aren’t aimed at all women, just black women.They “forgot” to “inform and educate” the public that, in the same CDC report, abortion rates for white women increased by 4% compared to 1% for black women between 2005 and 2006; and by 2007 there was a 7% drop in abortion rates for black women compared to the 2%  drop for white women.

This isn’t a competition, but looking at the figures in context identifies the real problem with Life Always and their campaigns. This isn’t just an attack on abortion rights. This is an attack on black women. Outrage is less to do with so called ‘truth’ and a woman’s right to choose, but more to do with the one thing that still undermines cohesion in our society: racial inequality.

Instead of condemning any woman’s decisions to terminate her pregnancy, society should be looking at why abortion statistics are so high. Life Always may be bringing attention to the issue of black abortion rates but they’re doing nothing to offer solutions to the women who see it as their only choice. By systematically targeting, alienating and stigmatising the very group they profess to help, Life Always offers no encouragement to make a pro-life decision. Abortion is bigger than the act. Raise awareness to deal with the main causes of abortion in the any community, attacking the issue at the root, rather than woman.