Trust Black Women...

Have you seen this ad in SoHo?

This offensive board comes from the people of LifeAlways, and is within walking distance of three Planned Parenthoods. The trite fear-mongering concept behind this board is neither new nor original. A similar style poster appeared in Georgia recently from the organization Right to Life :

1) I wasn't aware that different ethnicity=different species.

2) I get that Planned Parenthood and Margaret Sanger have a historical tie to eugenics, but when the hell are we going to trust that black women can make our OWN choices.

3) Organizations like these cite that Planned Parenthoods are only placed in black and latina communities because the have a secret agenda of racial population control. But Planned Parenthood is about ACCESS, not race. And last I checked, having affordable access to sex education, contraceptives, CANCER SCREENINGS, and pre-natal care weren't bad things.

I decided to do a little digging behind the SoHo ad, because I had a sneaking suspicion that there were no black women on LifeAlways' board. And guess what folks:

I was right.

I wish people would stop villainizing women who make the incredibly difficult decision to terminate a pregnancy. Abortions are NEVER an easy decision, and until you are in that position, you'll never know what it feels like. This is why the discussion that happening right now around Planned Parenthood ABSOLUTELY needs to include racial and economic justice. I'll be rallying Saturday...will you?