OPINION

Paying for Abortions, One Pendant at a Time

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The D.C. Abortion Fund (DCAF) is giving a coat hanger pendant for each new donation of $10 or more per month to pay for low-income women’s abortions in the D.C., Maryland and Virginia area as a “token of [their] appreciation,” in case you wanted a macabre reminder of your direct contribution to the killing of innocent babies. The pendant is based on their logo.

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According to their 2013 Annual Report, of the 758 individuals who were offered grants to help pay for a portion of their abortion procedures, 546 (72 percent) were African-American women. Abortion is hitting the African-American community hard. A Guttmacher Institute report revealed that in the U.S., black children are aborted at nearly four times the rate of white children. Recently, the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene released a pregnancy statistics report for 2012 showing that abortions outnumber live births in the black community in NYC: 31,328 abortions to 24,758 live births. In the District of Columbia, 41 percent of pregnancies end in abortion, which is twice the national average.

DCAF pledged $164,168 on behalf of 758 pregnant women. Of those offered grants, 598 women used their pledges and received funding, totaling $132,525 in DCAF grants paid out. The average grant was $222 per woman. DCAF grew its base of women receiving abortion funds by 31 percent from 2012. Of the pledges made in 2013 by DCAF, 289 were for first trimester abortions, 410 were for second trimester abortions, and 59 were for abortions past 24 weeks.

Abortion is the war on women, pushed by those who don’t understand the magnitude of harm they are inflicting on other women. Many women who have had abortions suffer physical damage: hemorrhage, infection, uterine perforation, cervical tears, blood clots, incomplete abortion, cardiac or respiratory arrest and death. They increase their chance for future pre-term births, miscarriage and breast cancer. Many more suffer psychological damage, having an astounding increase in the risk of depression, substance abuse and suicide.

Who funds DCAF? The following are some of their supporters and many are the usual suspects. We should make sure that not one of these supporters ever get a dime because they directly fund abortion.

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Let’s face it: No woman wants an abortion. She is cornered into it because she doesn’t feel like she has the necessary support. She feels desperate. Groups like DCAF, their donors and funders are enablers in the destruction of children whose mothers are vulnerable.

What these women really need is to know that a total of 155 pregnancy resource centers exist in D.C., Virginia, and Maryland to support them and their babies in their time of need – whether it’s with housing needs, food, clothes or medical care. Let’s do all we can to help these mothers know that they are supported and that killing their babies in not the answer.