A pro-life group has written an open letter to the NAACP, condemning the pro-abortion stance of the nation’s oldest civil rights organization. 

“Abortion is the ultimate racism. Almost 20 million black babies have been killed since Roe v. Wade,” the letter from the American Life League read. Roe v. Wade was the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. It was overturned by the court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which returned the issue to the states. 

The open letter, dated Feb. 15, was written by the league’s president, Judie Brown, and addressed to Derrick Johnson, president of the Baltimore-based organization.  

Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, addresses the 54th NAACP Image Awards at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on Feb. 25, 2023, in Pasadena, California. (Photo: Amy Sussman/Getty Images)

Brown took issue with the NAACP’s 2023 “Women’s Rights to Reproductive Freedom and Health” document.  

“Your organization makes several disturbing statements, including the fact that you believe there is a ‘fundamental right to abortion,’” she said. 

 “Do you realize that, in every abortion, a baby dies—often violently?” 

She added, “A preborn baby is either starved, burned with a chemical, or torn apart limb from limb.” 

Brown cited statistics from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pointing out that almost 42% of American abortions are performed on black babies. Black women make up just 7.7% of the total U.S. population and 15.3% of the U.S. population of women, according to census figures cited by the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.

Brown took exception to the NAACP resolution asserting that “abortion access is a racial justice issue.”  

She asked Johnson, “Do you realize that organizations like Planned Parenthood target black women for abortions? Where is the justice for these moms and babies?”  

Brown cited the NAACP’s statement that it “acknowledges reproductive justice as a core principle of civil and human rights and seeks to protect the right of all women, especially African American women, to exercise their reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy safely.” 

She disputed the civil rights group’s use of the word “justice,” asserting, “We must never allow our thinking to be so impaired that we believe that the administration of justice results in a deceased baby.” 

Brown also took issue with the NAACP’s defense of abortion as “reproductive freedom” and “bodily autonomy,” insisting that “a woman’s reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy can never come at the price of a human life. The baby inside the mother has rights, too.” 

She added, “True freedom begins with truth, not the wretched slaying of the innocent preborn child.” 

Live Action author Christina Bennett seconded that sentiment in an interview with The Daily Signal. “The purpose of the NAACP is to advocate for African Americans like myself and others who have faced injustices. Abortion is the No. 1 cause of death in the black community,” she said. “The fact that they have this massive blind spot to the injustice of abortion is severely disappointing.”  

Bennett added, “This is Black History Month. This is the time to acknowledge the great things we have done throughout human history. But how is it possible for us to achieve greatness if we are being killed in the womb?”  

“These lives are our future. They are future doctors, nurses, professors, husbands. They are worthy of the gift of life,” she said.  

Brown’s letter to the NAACP concluded, “Over 20 million babies have been lost. Over 20 million families have been torn apart. This breaks our hearts, and it should break your heart as well,” she wrote. 

 “Abortion is truly one of the greatest injustices of our time,” she wrote. “Black women and black babies deserve better.” 

Requests for comment from the NAACP were not returned.

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