Anyone browsing social media or watching network news is likely to be familiar with #BlackLivesMatter, #ICantBreathe or #HandsupWalkOut. They are terms that express the angst fueling a continuing clash between minority protesters and law enforcement after the tragic deaths of Florida’s Trayvon Martin, Ferguson’s Michael Brown and New York City’s Eric Garner.

For the past several weeks, those hashtag terms have been splashed on protest signs as part of a nationwide outcry against racial profiling, social injustice and raw bigotry.

But while attention has focused on slain Black males, there has been little attention to the deaths of Chicago’s Tonya Reaves, Cleveland’s Lakisha Wilson or Miami Gardens’ Qualecia James. Reaves and Wilson died after surgical abortions. James and the baby she was carrying both died as a result of gang-related gunfire.

The demise of those young women was also tragic, but for the most part has been ignored, says Ryan Bomberger, founder of TooManyAborted.com.

“No riots. No die-ins. No protests. Absolutely no mainstream media converge,” Bomberger writes on social media with the BlackLivesMatter hashtag included. “The lives of black women, snuffed out by real injustice and violence, are completely ignored and treated with nothing but silence.”

Instead, Planned Parenthood purposely avoids acknowledging the number of Black females – both born and unborn – that have been lost to abortion. Instead, Planned Parenthood ironically tweeted their support for the #BlackLivesMatter.

“We are joining #Ferguson organizers and protesters in DC today – standing in solidarity with you! #HandsUpWalkOut #BlackLivesMatter,” Planned Parenthood tweeted in the heat of the Ferguson unrest.

But do Black lives really matter to Planned Parenthood?

Not only does Planned Parenthood ignore the tragic abortion-related deaths in the Black Community, they cover up the effect abortion has had on diminishing the Black population.

Nearly a thousand Black babies die in America every day at the hands of abortionists like Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider. Since 1973, 16 million tiny Black lives have perished in abortion clinics.

The latest U.S. Census figures show that among Illinois residents, 62 percent is white, 16.5 percent Hispanic and 14.7 percent Black.

The CDC reports that nationwide, 36 percent of women obtaining abortions are White, 25 percent are Hispanic and 30 percent are Black. That means Blacks have 60 percent more as many abortions than Whites and Hispanics – exposing them to abortion after-effects and abruptly cutting off the next generation.

Recent Illinois statistics show a steady decline in abortions over the past decade, but Illinois still remains one of the most aborting states in the nation, despite the fact 92 percent of Illinois counties do not have abortion clinics. Chicago is in Cook County, the state’s most populated county, and one that does host abortion clinics.

A comprehensive study by ProtectingBlackLife.org showed that 79 percent of Planned Parenthood’s abortion facilities are located in Black and Hispanic neighborhoods.

“Planned Parenthood has dominated the urban landscape since its own birth in eugenic racism, but rates of unintended pregnancies, STDs, fatherlessness, and abortion have only increased exponentially since Roe v. Wade,” Bomberger writes.

Still, the #BlackLivesMatter movement says it is focused on stopping unfair treatment by law enforcement. Members of a group calling themselves “We Charge Genocide” released a report that held the Chicago Police Department responsible for a rise in the community’s violence.

They filed that report with the United Nations Committee for Torture, saying although Blacks make up 32.3 percent of Chicago’s population, they account for roughly 75 percent of police shooting victims from 2009 to 2013. The group claims that Black Chicagoans are 10 times more likely than Whites to be shot by the police.

While claiming law enforcement is involved in Black Genocide, these groups also defend abortion rights as “reproductive rights” or “reprojustice.”

“For one’s children to be random, unwitting blood sacrifices to the prejudice of faceless others is not freedom,” wrote Katherine Cross at RH Reality Check. “To have reproductive freedom means, among many other things, that your choice to raise a family will not be revenged upon by collectivized prejudice wielding batons and handguns.”

The media’s cooperation with the Left’s agenda has a lot to do with how the situation is being perceived by the public, a key Black conservative says.

“The liberal media looks the other way on this,” Priests for Life Pastoral Associate and African American Outreach Director Dr. Alveda C. King told MRC Culture.

The niece of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. called for prayer.

“Pray that people will see right through their propaganda,” she said, “The media has another agenda; if they really thought that Black lives matter they would be protesting abortion on demand.”

With the statistics clearly showing that the real threat to America’s Black community are abortionists much more than law enforcement officers, perhaps it is time for Black leaders to hashtag #DoTheyReally? to be added to “#Black Lives Matter.”

Please support the work of Illinois Family Institute.

The death of 24 year-old Tonya Reaves on Friday, July 20, following an abortion at Planned Parenthood has prompted a renewed call for accountability in the state’s currently unregulated abortion industry.

Pastor Ceasar LeFlore, Midwest Director of Life Education and Resource Network (L.E.A.R.N.), appealed via letter to Illinois’ President of the Senate John Cullerton (D-Chicago), Speaker of the House Michael Madigan (D-Chicago), and House Minority Leader Tom Cross (R-Plainfield) to increase abortion clinic regulation.

Reaves’ death following her abortion in a facility that is not regulated by the State of Illinois is a tragedy, but the letter to Illinois’ legislative leaders points out that “this state’s lack of even the most basic health regulation of abortion providers and clinics is setting the stage for it to happen again.”

Illinois law does not require Planned Parenthood’s clinics to be inspected by the state’s Department of Public Health. This lack of oversight is particularly negligent in light of the fact that Reaves’ second trimester abortion was performed in Planned Parenthood’s Loop Health Center in Chicago, a facility that, according to its own website, refers all surgical procedures to two other abortion clinics, only offering “medication abortion,” commonly known as the “abortion pill,” at the downtown site. 

LeFlore’s missive implores the lawmakers to join the twenty other states that mandate counseling for women who are scheduled to undergo an abortion. Often referred to as “Informed Consent” laws or “Women’s Right to Know” laws, these measures require the physician to inform the pregnant woman of the many risks involved in an abortion. More than half of the states require at least a 24-hour waiting period between receiving counseling for the abortion and completing the procedure.

“Planned Parenthood’s Loop Health Center is clearly not equipped to provide a second trimester abortion or to respond to an emergency situation such as the one that resulted in the tragic death of an otherwise healthy young woman,” explains LeFlore. “A woman who goes to an abortion provider naturally assumes that she is going to a medically approved facility and not to a company that is operating an unlicensed, uninspected, and unregulated surgery.”

L.E.A.R.N. is the nation’s largest black pro-life organization and its Midwest Director is not alone in sounding this clarion call for increased abortion clinic regulation. The letter is cosigned by leaders from the Illinois’ broader pro-life community, including Aid for Women of Northern Lake County, Belleville Area Right to Life, Catholic Citizens of Illinois, Concerned Women for America of Illinois, Illinois Citizens for Ethics PAC, Illinois Family Institute, Illinois Federation for Right to Life, Illinois Review, Illinois Right to Life Committee, Knox County Right to Life, Lake County Right to Life. Life Advocacy Resource Project, Lutherans for Life, McHenry County Right to Life, Professional Women’s Network, Pro-Life Action League, Pro-Life/Pro-Family Coalition, Students for Life of Illinois, Tradition Family and Property, and Word of Hope.

The coalition insists that, “The Illinois General Assembly must take seriously the health and safety of the women of Illinois… [and] immediately enact laws and policies that insure the protection of women.” 

It is noteworthy that in the last legislative session, the Illinois legislature failed to call for a vote on H.B. 4117 which would have required all abortion clinics to meet the same health and safety standards as all other ambulatory surgical treatment centers, including those run by Planned Parenthood.

The letter from L.E.A.R.N., et al to the Illinois General Assembly leaders is available HERE.  

 About L.E.A.R.N.: 

The Life Education and Resource Network exists to proclaim the pro-life message within the African-American community through various educational projects. L.E.A.R.N.’s Midwest Director, Pastor Ceasar LeFlore, is available for interviews at 708-849-1630 (office) or 708-378-4712 (cell).