National NOW Times >> Fall 2011  >> Article

Billboards Targeting Women of Color Met with Resistance, Reality

Reproductive justice advocates are standing up to efforts to demonize and shame women of color who utilize their legal right to abortion.

Thanks to widespread public outrage, including organized efforts by the Women of Color Policy Network and the Trust Black Women Partnership, an inflammatory billboard lasted just two days in New York City. Paid for by the anti-reproductive rights group Life Always, the billboard showed a young African-American girl with a startling message above her head: "The most dangerous place for an African American is in the womb."

The three-story tall advertisement was scheduled to hang on a building for three weeks, but the company that sold Life Always the space agreed to take it down within days of its unveiling in February.

Trust Black Women spread the word on Facebook that the ad was "offensive, racist, sexist and -- most of all -- disrespectful of our decision making, our 400-year history of raising and caring for black children, and our human right to make health care choices for ourselves."

This billboard was part of a larger strategy that deliberately ignores the underlying economic issues associated with abortion while capitalizing on the history of racism in the U.S.

In Los Angeles, Latinas were targeted with a similar bilingual billboard stating: "The most dangerous place for a Latino is in the womb."

Last year, billboards in Atlanta declared that "black children are an endangered species." They were followed this June by the message: "The 13th Amendment Freed Us. Abortion Enslaves Us."

A Chicago billboard included a photo of Barack Obama alongside text that said, "Every 21 minutes our next possible leader is aborted."

Legislative efforts to limit access to all forms of family planning often target low-income women, a disproportionate number of whom are women of color. This lack of access to contraception can and does result in unplanned pregnancies.

The National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health states: "Studies show that African American women and Latinas are more likely to be uninsured or underinsured and often lack basic access to birth control and comprehensive sex education due to fundamental structural inequities in society."

As feminists work to defeat the radical right's war on women, it is critical to recognize that women of color are often the first and most affected by attacks on reproductive justice and to work to uproot those fundamental structural inequities. NOW's commitment to combating racism and securing equality for all demands nothing less.