Opinion Piece Calls For Comprehensive Policies To Reduce Abortion Rates, Improve Health Among Black Women

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 13 Aug 2008 - 12:00 PDT

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Accusations in the media that black women have higher abortion rates than white women because abortion is "more aggressively marketed" toward blacks "mis[s] the point and distrac[t] from the real issue: the persistent health disparities faced by women, and men, in the African-American community," Melissa Gilliam, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Chicago and chair of the Guttmacher Institute's board of directors, writes in a Philadelphia Inquirer opinion piece.

According to Gilliam, black women have higher rates of abortions than white women because they have much higher rates of unintended pregnancies. "In other words, there is no need to resort to far-flung conspiracy theories to explain the higher abortion rate among black women," Gilliam says. Gilliam writes that the abortion rates among black women are part of the larger picture of disproportionately worse sexual and reproductive health outcomes compared with people from other races and that the root causes of general health disparities among blacks, are "manifold." There is a "long history of discrimination; lack of access to high quality, affordable health care; too few educational and professional opportunities; unequal access to safe, clean neighborhoods; and, for some African-Americans, a lingering mistrust of the medical community," she adds.

Gilliam writes that as a black woman, a physician and a reproductive health specialist, she sees "on a daily basis the real-life consequences of unequal access to good health care," adding that is why she "strongly believe[s] that those professing concern for the well-being of African-American women have an obligation to put the issue of abortion in its proper context and to support evidence-based policies that would have a positive impact."

According to Gilliam, "there are no easy solutions to these complex challenges." However, she writes that policies that could make an immediate impact are improving "sexual health literacy," support of comprehensive sex education programs over abstinence-only programs, and empowering black women to better plan their pregnancies. Gilliam also says that "proven policies" include boosting funding for Title X programs, expanding Medicaid eligibility for family planning services and supporting working parents through paid sick leave, subsidized child care and affordable health insurance.

Gilliam writes her challenge to antiabortion advocates is to "stop throwing out inflammatory terms like genocide and instead channel their considerable energies and resources into supporting policies that reduce the need for abortion." She concludes, "Let's get serious about helping women and their families, including women in the African-American community" (Gilliam, Philadelphia Inquirer, 8/10).

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