The Cost of Motherhood

“Further, many Black women who were not necessarily activists during this time were pro-abortion rights without necessarily being pro-abortion; they had deep, lived understandings of the conditions which left women with no other option than to terminate a pregnancy (Davis, 2003). Countless poor Black women (among poor women of all races and ethnicities) had abortions out of desperation, as they knew that the conditions under which they would be bringing a Black child into the world were untenable. They saw abortion as a necessary evil, brought about by the conditions of racism and poverty. These women “wanted the right to legal abortions while deploring the social conditions that prohibited them from bearing more children” (Davis, 2003, p. 355) and therefore did not seek to promote the idea that legalized abortion was an attempt at Black genocide.”

Chapter 3 “Abortion is Black Genocide”: Controversial Conspiracy Theories in Black Magazines