CNN recently posted an article called, “Beyoncé, Serena Williams bring attention to risks of

childbirth for black women.” Both famous women had health scares (Beyoncé with preeclampsia

and Serena with blood clots) that contributed to emergency C-sections. For those who have

undergone the horror that is a C-section, you know this is no joke, and it’s important to discuss

the possibility that mothers of different races face different health problems.

The American Heart Association notes that black Americans do have higher rates of

hypertension and other issues related to high blood pressure. The theories behind why this might

be range from higher rates of obesity, to a gene that makes them more sensitive to salt, to racism

(of course). There are some doctors who have noticed the differences in disease prevalence and

treatment between races and have begun treating people accordingly.

Yes, it’s important to discuss the rate of pregnancy-related complications within the black

community. To be honest, CNN did an overall object job covering the issue, with the exception

of this tweet:

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So what’s the problem with this post?

Planned Parenthood shared the article with verbiage about “choosing to carry a pregnancy” and it

just smells fishy. We can all care about maternal morbidity, but we can’t agree with the insidious

implication hiding behind PP’s post: Black women should have the option to abort because their

pregnancies tend to be higher-risk.

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Yet again we see the same template and the same cycle that plagues the entire abortion debate.

The abortion industry shares an opinion that makes them seem like the good guys, anyone who

questions it must hate women in some way, and pro-lifers struggle to explain why their premise

is so wrong. And as always, we can clearly see that our two sides recognize the same problem

but have very different solutions.

Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry see a problem with risky pregnancies and

immediately propose that abortion would solve it. Where does that leave black mothers with

risky pregnancies who want their babies? It may be easy for PP to say abortion is the solution,

but how does abortion help them?

Pro-lifers, just like any intellectually honest doctor, know that abortion is not the solution here.

It’s not going to make pregnancy safer for black women; on the contrary, it’ll make any future

pregnancies she wishes to have even more dangerous. What will actually help black mothers stay

safer during pregnancy is learning more about why this occurs and tailoring obstetric medicine to

fit their needs.