God’s Body, God’s Plan: The Komen Furor and Abortion as Black/Latino “Genocide”

By SIKIVU HUTCHINSON
Religion Dispatches

“This is God’s body,” the girl says. She is one of a group of middle school students participating in a youth workshop on misogynist images in media. The subject has turned to abortion, and her peers nod vigorously in agreement. Imani Moses, a high school senior who is facilitating the workshop as a Women’s Leadership Project student, challenges her to examine her position—“does God sleep, eat, live in and control this body 24/7?” She asks, pointing to her own body. “No, this is my body, and I control it.” A ripple of unease goes through the room, as the girls chew on Imani’s defiance.

Making the leap from God to self-determination is blasphemous for some. Yet, the persistence of these beliefs underscores the special peril the current fight over abortion rights poses for women of color.

Over the past several years, Black and Latino fundamentalist anti-abortion groups have vigorously aligned themselves with the white religious right in the battle to take down family planning. In 2010, the Radiance Foundation launched a nationwide billboard campaign dubbed “TooManyAborted.com” that targeted communities of color with billboards characterizing abortion as “black genocide.” Mother Jones recently reported that a House Bill advocating the prohibition of “race-selection abortions” has been proposed to Republican lawmakers. The Bill argues that “abortion is the leading cause of death in the black community.”
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