Pro Choice - Pro Consequences

There is no one who loves a good wordsmith, double entendre or play on words more than me. There may be some who equal, but none who surpass. Let me also state up front and for the record that I am pro choice in terms of a woman’s right to choose and at the same time pro consequence. I really don’t believe anyone has a right to dictate what someone else must choose, particularly with his/her body. I really do believe however, that one must make wise choices. Whether your choices are wise; unwise; good; or bad, all come with consequences.


I struggled with what angle I would approach this blog post concerning the billboard that was recently taken down in SoHo due to public outcry that read “The most dangerous place for an African American is the womb.” A report cited in recent years by the CDC states that white women accounted for the largest percentage of abortions (37.1%), followed by black women (34.4%), Hispanic women (22.1%), and women of other races (6.4%). White women had the lowest abortion rates (8.5 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years) and ratios (144 abortions per 1,000 live births); in contrast, black women had the highest abortion rates (32.1 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years) and ratios (480 abortions per 1,000 live births).

With those figures I can understand why someone or an organization would make an attempt to raise awareness about the high abortion rate particularly amongst African American women, but what I don’t understand is the wording along with the picture. Has anyone on that organization’s board ever heard of connotation and denotation? Have anyone of them ever heard of inference or implication? How about the plain old read between the lines or the possibility of some serious misinterpretation? We live in a country and perhaps world who at one point (and maybe still) wished that African Americans did not exist at all; that we never even reached the womb let alone it being the most dangerous place. Was it even considered that it could be racially charged? So we can conclude that the wording on that bulletin board was a bad choice that ended in a bad consequence. The sign was ultimately taken down.

Now let’s get to the bigger issue of good and bad choices along with their consequences. As the statistics above reveal, there are a whole lot of bad choices going on. We have to get to the root of these choices. I find it hard to believe that all of these folks made the good choice of using contraceptives and they did not work causing the choice of an abortion to be made. I just find it hard to believe that all of the condoms broke or all of the pills failed. Let’s get real; many of these choices for abortion had to be made because some bad choices were made up front. Choosing an irresponsible partner; poor if any planning at all; the “Oh it can’t happen to me” syndrome; the old just this one time syndrome; the old “If you really love me” syndrome, and on and on and on.

We must give some serious thought to the choices we make as each one comes with a consequence. The abortion rate really is not the issue; the choice to have irresponsible sex is. Yes Virginia, if the sperm meets the egg you can indeed get pregnant (For those old enough to remember, Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus). It’s sad that someone felt the need to place a beautiful African American child on a billboard with the tagline “The most dangerous place for an African American is the womb.” It’s even sadder that we refuse to take responsibility for our actions; that we refuse to be accountable. I am pro choice but I am also pro consequence. Something to critically think about and as always I welcome your comments in the comment section.