I am deeply committed to civil rights and have participated in the battle for equality regardless of race, gender, religion, handicap or national origin. I have watched with great pride the advancement of civil rights during the course of my lifetime and will continue to advocate for the same.

It is with this in mind that I offer some thoughts on the subject of abortion and in particular the disparate impact that it is having on minorities and in particular the African American population as a whole. Here is what is now known about the rates of abortion on minorities. The rate of abortions on Hispanic women is double the rate of White women. While Blacks account for 13 percent of the overall population of the United States their abortion rate is almost 5 times higher than for White women. Currently 37 percent of the 1.3 million abortions performed annually in the United States are performed on Black women. According to the Pew Research Center's Population Projections for 2005 to 2050 the Latino population already the largest minority group will triple in size by 2050 and account for nearly 30 percent of the overall population of the United States while the overall Black population will remain stagnant or the same at around 13 percent. While there are many factors that contribute to this pattern such as higher mortality rates as a result of violent crime, disease, poverty and inadequate access to healthcare, the disproportionate affect that abortion is having on the overall Black population can no longer be ignored. Civil rights leaders all across this country need to carefully look at and ask why the corporate medical interests that operate clinics and aggressively market abortions have located over 75 percent of all abortion clinics in minority, economically disadvantaged neighborhoods.

While many will continue to say that abortion needs to remain safe, rare and legal, it is anything but rare with nearly 1.3 million abortions performed annually in the United States and the rate among Black women five times higher than for White women.

The notion that abortion rights are just a natural extension of civil rights has in my opinion kept Black leaders silent much too long. They must remain silent no more and see that abortion and its disparate impact on an entire race of people is in many ways a form of genocide. In other words America's history with slavery and abortion may be on a collision course that is unavoidable.

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