Billboards in Austin, Texas, are popping up that have been banned elsewhere. How come? Because they target African-Americans in their discouragement of abortions. The clearly racist outdoor media campaign has been spotted elsewhere, including Boston and Houston, and is actually an attack on Planned Parenthood, claiming, “The most dangerous place for some children is in the womb.” The spots, from the pro-life group Heroic Media, point drivers to a website, where the claim is made Planted Parenthood wants to “stop the reproduction of the unfit,” including black babies. Which makes me wonder: When’s the last time an anti-abortion ad was created just for the gays? And while targeting gay men might be a waist of dollars (anyone willing to spend $100k just to have a kid probably isn’t going to abort it), isn’t it time pro-lifers stop discriminating against America’s lesbians and start calling on them not to ditch their “oops” babies? Can I get a HYMEN?
target demographics
How Come Nobody Makes Homophobic Anti-Abortion Campaigns?
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Hyhybt
:confused:
(yes, I know that doesn’t work here, but there’s no way to subscribe without posting)
Riker
ummm…lesbians are about as likely to conceive a child as gay men. This story is just bizarre, and has nothing to do with gays.
Hyhybt
All I can say is that, if I ever become pregnant, no WAY am I getting an abortion. Because it would be a miracle of at least the order of St. Mary’s pregnancy.
Definitely would go for caesarian delivery, though 🙂
Shofixti
“clearly racist” – What is clearly racist about this?
Is it racist to want more African Americans to be born? That would seem really strange to me if it were.
Michael
@Shofixti: The billboard shows a black child, it then has a follow through to the website. The website says that Planned Parenthood wants to stop the reproduction of the unfit. The billboard is implying that that “unfit” person Planned Parenthood is attacking, is black. I’m sure you’re smart enough to understand this.
Do you actually not see what is racist with this? Or are you just arguing for arguments sake?
Shofixti
@Michael: Thanks, Michael. Then the racism all comes down to whom you ascribe ownership of the assertion of “the unfit”. I am not arguing for arguments sake – but I do find that often people encourage a very closed reading of texts – to the reading that paints your opposition in the most negative light.
To me it is obvious (in the same way that you might say something is racist in order to oppose that racism by bringing it to light) that saying “the unfit” is contestation of the ideology of eugenics, it is not a statement in any kind of agreement or accord with it.
Kevin
While I’m not disagreeing that there is a certain racial undertone to this, isn’t it a bit racist on “our” part to only see the child as black? I mean, if it were a white kid, we wouldn’t assume that the ad means to equate “white” with “unfit.” Similarly, nobody is accusing them of being sexist because the kid is a boy. All this is because, in the public eye, white is the default, and anyone who isn’t white automatically represents his or her race and that race only. Maybe he’s just a cute kid who happens to be black.
kayla
@Kevin: DITTO!!! You hit the nail right on the head. If this was a picture of a white child, no one would assume that they were saying white babies are unfit! It’s like a Rorschach test or something. And I think the person who wrote this vapid piece just failed miserably!
justiceontherocks
A real stretch to call this “racist.”
Jim in St Louis
heh- I have a standing bet with a incredibly pro-choice lesbian couple down the block. I maintain that they will do a 180 turn and be incredibly pro-life on the same day that science comes up with a in-the-womb DNA test for gayness.
Adelaida
The issue of racism in the ad is not a matter of reading—the ad is, as Shofixti points out, a critique of eugenics. It is referring to a specific argument in the politics of reproductive rights. The charge of support for eugenics programs is one that is sometimes leveled against reproductive rights advocacy. One of the reasons that it keeps recurring is that the language of early reproductive rights did in fact sometimes (often, perhaps) echo eugenicist ideals, and modern reproductive rights advocacy sometimes has a hard time deflecting this charge.
So, the claim that the ad is racist is a little tricky. I don’t think it can be said to be “clearly” racist, since its potential racism is not a direct consequence of its content (the ad is not saying that black children are unfit). To the extent that the argument can be and often is (as it might be in this ad) used to garner support from people of color for anti-abortion rights political causes by politicians who are otherwise generally unconcerned with anti-racist activism it might be pretty cynical and racist, though.
DR
What is “Planted Parenthood”? Never heard of it, Max…
Daez
How is this truly racist if they have numbers to back it up? Its not racist to point out black women have more abortions. Its just statistics.
@kayla: It is also a typical case of race baiting here at QT. Just ask yourself what this really has to do with gays and lesbians. If the answer is nothing, then it becomes pretty obvious why it was posted here.
@Jim in St Louis: Pro-choice is bull shit. You made a choice when you had sex without a condom and got pregnant. You made a choice when you chose not to take the pill and got pregnant. You made a choice when you chose to not take the morning after pill and got pregnant. You made a choice when you didn’t abort in the first trimester before the baby was actually a fetus. There is a great deal of choices being made. Aborting in the second or third term is absolutely not a choice you should be able to make.
My cousin had twins at 15. To this day she would most likely kick the ass of any woman attempting to force “pro-choice” on her.
Phil
You don’t force “choice”. Seriously, do you not know what pro-choice means? Well, here is the gist of it, “abortions for some, decorative miniflags for others!”
Hyhybt
“How is this truly racist if they have numbers to back it up? Its not racist to point out black women have more abortions. Its just statistics.”
Perhaps; that depends on the reason for quoting that statistic.
“My cousin had twins at 15. To this day she would most likely kick the ass of any woman attempting to force “pro-choice” on her.”
“Pro-choice” means exactly what it says: keeping the OPTION available. It does not mean forcing people to do anything at all. And you already knew that.
hf2hvit
“And while targeting gay men might be a waist of dollars…”
A “WAIST OF DOLLARS”??? What language are you speaking at QUEERTY??? Perhaps you should get a proofreader who’s made it through his ESL class.
TxWranglr
Good lord, can we PLEASE get people on this site that actually know how to write English? It’s “Planned” Parenthood, not “Planted” Parenthood and “waste” not “waist.”
I know they’re just typos, but they make you look STUPID!
Michael
@Kevin: “I mean, if it were a white kid, we wouldn’t assume that the ad means to equate “white” with “unfit.””
It’s not the same. We live in a society in which this sentiment is shoved down our throats, “Poor black people keep having babies”. We do not, however, live in a society in which one person from the white, straight, male (and increasingly, female) group will inevitably represent all from said group.
They’re using this to their advantage. They’re not oblivious to what they’re doing at all and to say that it is us somehow being racist for only seeing him as black is naive. It is not that we are racist for seeing his race, it is that we are smart enough to understand that his race is being USED.
Considering the group that this is coming from, do you really think it’s “just a cute kid who happens to be black”? I wish I had as much hope for this group as you do.
Jim Hlavac
Actually, with some 50,000,000 babies aborted since the gay rights movement heated up in 1969, (only legal, of course, since 1974) and with some 5% of those babies probably gay, I’d say some 2,500,000 gay kids weren’t born. And I think we could have used the numbers. Instead, where’s our billboard saying something like “And remember, you’re aborting gay babies too!” Though somehow I think some like Sprigg & Perkins of the “Family Research” Council would be fine with aborting gay babies, if they could only figure out what makes us gay. There is of course, no research at the council, for they still can’t figure out why we’re gay, by their own admission. And you certainly can’t be FOR family anything by being against the gay sons and daughters in so many families.
On the other hand, politically, it would be most interesting to see what would happen if a gay group put up an anti-abortion billboard with those words I put forth above. Would that too be “promoting homosexuality”? Hmm. Sure would make those folks against us squirm though. And I’m for that.
Jim Hlavac
Now that I think about it, and to really get in, um, bed with strange fellows, let’s put up billboards or publish ads that say:
“Don’t Abort your babies; let gay couples adopt them!”
Now that would turn a few heads, no?
Let’s give the Evangelicals who are both anti-abortion and anti-gay something to think about. Hobson’s Choice, zugzwang, painted into the corner — call it what you wish — but time to make these people think a bit. Merry Christmas.
$0.02
@Daez, umm how is it a choice if a woman has been raped or in the case of incest? I don’t know too many women who parade around with signs asking to be raped. You’re saying women who are raped chose that? Your cousin is your cousin but she does not speak for anyone who is not her. And like someone else pointed out, pro choice means it is an option to not be forced to have a child for whatever reason. You cannot be so slow you don’t understand that. Normally I don’t weigh in on these issues because when it comes to abortions I think only women should have a say but when I hear/see non-sense your’s truly must speak up.
saltydog
I don’t understand what this story has to do with GLBT people? Can somebody help clarify that part of it?
It did says 2 times as many African Americans have died from abortion than aids, heart disease and accidents combined. I’m sorry but that is the most ridiculous, made up statistic I have ever seen, it doesn’t even make sense. All people die, and those are the leading causes of death so it implies that there are more African American fetuses aborted than are born..which we all know isn’t even remotely true.
Patty Meltdown
It is interesting to note that they *claim* that this is an attack on Planned Parenthood in Austin, when in reality there is only one PP center left in the area, and it is struggling to keep it’s doors open.
This isn’t really about racism…. It is about setting the stage for punishing women. Some states have enacted fetal protection laws that criminalize activities that may may harm an unborn fetus.Texas legislators have been mulling this one over for some time and this is just the first stage in getting that meme out into the public mind.