Anti-abortion activists promote the myth that abortion is a form of Black genocide. They suggest that Black women seeking abortions are destroying their own people. They even cite statistics—Black people have a higher abortion rate than other racial groups—and spin it into a conspiracy theory.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2019, the abortion rate among non-Hispanic Black women was 23.8 per 1,000 women aged 15–44, compared to 6.6 per 1,000 among non-Hispanic White women.
The Black genocide argument is not just false—it’s dangerous. It distorts history, ignores systemic racism, and manipulates Black people into opposing reproductive freedom. Meanwhile, the same groups remain silent on Black maternal mortality, mass incarceration, and poverty—the actual systems harming Black families.
It’s time to set the record straight.
Where Did the Black Genocide Myth Come From?
The “Black genocide” myth was designed, cultivated, and pushed by white conservatives who saw an opportunity to divide the Black community on abortion.
Anti-choice groups have spent decades co-opting civil rights language, twisting Black history to serve their agenda, and enlisting Black pastors and politicians to make their case more palatable.
One of their most frequent talking points is that Planned Parenthood’s founder, Margaret Sanger, created birth control to eliminate Black people. They take her documented ties to the eugenics movement—an ideology that was mainstream at the time—and use it to claim that reproductive healthcare was built as a weapon against Black communities.
They ignore the fact that Sanger worked with Black leaders like W.E.B. DuBois to expand birth control access in Black communities—because Black people wanted it. They erase the agency of the Black women who fought for birth control as a means of economic and bodily liberation.
The hypocrisy is staggering. The same politicians banning abortion are the ones cutting healthcare, shutting down maternal health programs, and gutting food assistance. They do nothing to address the real reasons Black people seek abortion at higher rates.
What They Refuse to Talk About
If anti-abortion activists truly cared about Black survival, they would be fighting the real threats to Black life.
Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women. In 2022, the maternal mortality rate for Black women was 49.5 deaths per 100,000 live births, compared to 19.0 for white women. Where is the anti-abortion movement when Black mothers are dying in childbirth?
Black infants die at twice the rate of white infants. These deaths aren’t caused by abortion—they’re caused by racist medical practices, environmental hazards, and a healthcare system that refuses to take Black healthcare needs seriously.
The same states banning abortion are the ones with the highest rates of Black maternal and infant deaths. Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama—states with some of the strictest abortion laws—are also the most dangerous places for a Black person to give birth.
The fact that these groups never mention any of this proves their real motive—controlling Black reproductive decisions.
The Reproductive Justice Movement Fights Back
Black people do not need white conservatives—or their hand-picked spokespeople—telling us what is best for our families. Black reproductive justice leaders have been fighting these lies for decades, and their work makes it clear
Organizations like SisterSong, the Black Mamas Matter Alliance, and The National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda honor Black agency in reproductive care. They reject the idea that abortion is a crisis in Black communities and focus on expanding access to care—ensuring Black parents have the resources they need to raise their children in safe, well-resourced communities.
The Truth About Black Survival
Black genocide is not happening at abortion clinics. What is happening is that Black people are being stripped of their right to reproductive decision-making. What is happening is Black people being forced into pregnancies in a country where carrying a pregnancy is disproportionately deadly for us. What is happening is Black children growing up in communities that are defunded, over-policed, and abandoned the moment they are born.
If they only want to talk about abortion, they were never fighting for Black lives to begin with.
What You Can Do
If someone tells you they care about Black survival, ask them what they are doing about Black maternal mortality. Ask them what they are doing about Black infant deaths. Ask them what they are doing about Black parents struggling to afford healthcare, food, and childcare.
You can also:
- Challenge the lie. If you hear someone claiming that abortion is Black genocide, push back with facts.
- Support Black-led reproductive justice organizations. Groups like SisterSong and the Black Mamas Matter Alliance are leading this fight nationally. Desert Star Institute for Family Planning is an Arizona-based reproductive justice organization that I founded in 2017.
- Call out political hypocrisy. If a politician claims to care about Black survival but votes against maternal healthcare and childcare funding, they are lying.
- Advocate for real support for Black families. Expanding abortion access, fighting medical racism, and supporting economic justice are all part of protecting Black futures.
Black people deserve the right to make reproductive choices without shame, stigma, or political manipulation.
