Update below.
On Tuesday, a Democrat in the Ohio House of Representatives tried to remove protections for black babies in the heartbeat bill currently before the legislature. She argued that allowing black mothers to kill their unborn babies even if their babies have a detectible heartbeat would help America move beyond the dehumanizing legacy of slavery. This argument is painfully ironic, since by making it, the Democrat dehumanized the black babies in the womb — on the basis of race.
Rep. Janine Boyd (D-Cleveland Heights) filed an amendment stating that “African-American women shall be exempt from the requirements in sections 2919.192 to 2919.196 of the Revised Code.”
She defended the amendment in terms of reversing the legacy of slavery.
“I consider the slave trade and how black slaves were considered like cattle and put out to stud in order to create generations of more slaves,” Boyd testified on Tuesday. “I consider how many masters raped their slaves. I consider how many masters forced their slaves to have abortions and I consider how many pregnant slaves self-induced abortion so they would not contribute children they have to this slave system.”
“Our country is not far enough beyond our history to legislate as if it is, and so I ask you with all of your values to vote yes to this amendment,” Boyd concluded.
This testimony is disgusting on many levels. By referencing the children born to black slaves in fighting for black women to abort their children despite a detectible heartbeat, Boyd suggested that black babies are a legacy of slavery and should not be born. Furthermore, she dehumanized the babies on the basis of their race — arguing that a heartbeat should not protect a black baby from being aborted in the same way it would protect a white, Hispanic, or Asian baby.
How is this not segregation abortion? Why can black babies be killed under the same circumstances that would protect white, Hispanic, and Asian babies from death?
“Every human being is valuable regardless of the color of his or her skin,” Mark Harrington, president of the pro-life group Created Equal, said in a statement. “To suggest that only African-American babies with detectable heartbeats should be killed in Ohio is shocking racism not befitting of a representative of the Ohio House.
Harrington, whose organization shared the horrific news, called on Boyd to issue a formal apology.
“Representative Boyd should apologize for this insulting amendment and demonstrate her good faith with a vote on the Ohio House floor in favor of the Heartbeat Bill,” Harrington concluded.
Last year, pro-abortion billboards went up in black neighborhoods, and one billboard campaign actively promoted abortion for black women. “Black women take care of their families by taking care of themselves,” the billboard said. “Abortion is self-care.”
The recent film Gosnell: The Untold Story of America’s Most Prolific Serial Killer effectively countered the disgusting idea that abortion empowers black women. While the abortionist Kermit Gosnell performed abortions on black women, he treated them worse than the white women in his clinic. Yet Gosnell and his lawyers argued that his dirty and poorly run abortion clinic should be allowed to cut corners because it “served” low-income black women.
Black babies have the same right to life as any Asian, Hispanic, or white baby. There is no reason to mark black babies for death due to the color of their skin. The very idea of this abortion racism is heinous.
Update April 11 3:55 p.m.: The heartbeat bill has passed both houses of the Ohio legislature and it is headed to the desk of Republican Gov. Mike DeWine for signature.
Update 4:00 p.m.: DeWine signed the bill.
BC-US–APNewsAlert
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Ohio governor signs bill banning abortion after 1st detectable heartbeat, one of the nation's toughest restrictions.
— Terry McFadden (@TMcFaddenWNDU) April 11, 2019
Follow Tyler O’Neil, the author of this article, on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
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