Doubt Hats

In a column for the NY Times, Ross Douthat wrote that the abortion rate among African Americans is five times that among whites. He raised the possibility that Planned Parenthood, one of many abortion providers, is guilty of structural racism. It is reducing the number of black voters, diminishing what Douthat sees as black voting power. 

When abortion was illegal, I knew a young woman whose life became badly marred by an illegal abortion that permanently damaged her health. 

There is something disturbing about the fact that black woman are more apt to abort than white women, but I would argue that the structural racism is in the situations that black women and men can find themselves in. Raising a child in poverty is difficult. Many people of color don't get solid educational or employment opportunities. Changing that will be hard. Shutting down Planned Parenthood is easy but not the answer. Denying choice would revive unsafe abortions.