Sex Education, Contraception Key to Lowering Abortion Rate Among Blacks, Guttmacher CEO Writes

March 8, 2010 — In a New York Times letter to the editor published on Monday, Guttmacher Institute President and Chief Executive Sharon Camp calls for the U.S. to "get serious about providing better health care and more educational and economic opportunities for black women." Responding to a recent Times article on antiabortion-rights groups' campaigns to target black women, Camps writes that "abortion within the African-American community should be discussed in its proper context."

Camp notes that "[d]isproportionately high abortion rates among black women are a direct result of their higher rates of unintended pregnancy, which in turn reflect economic and social inequalities that are widespread and pervasive." Antiabortion-rights advocates "ignore" systemic inequities on various reproductive health outcomes and health indicators, including diabetes, heart disease, HIV/AIDS and cancer, according to Camp. They "falsely and cynically ... accuse abortion providers of targeting minority communities," she continues.

"Rather than promoting bogus conspiracy theories, let's focus on making comprehensive sex education and affordable contraceptive services universally available to reduce rates of unintended pregnancy and abortion," Camp concludes (Camp, New York Times, 3/8).