The Pro-Life Agenda is the agenda of white supremacy

Rev. Renita Green

Purity theology was introduced in a very pronounced way when a youth pastor was hired from the Foursquare denomination at my small childhood church in the 80s. I recall many messages about fornication and promiscuity, staying pure until marriage, the purity of a virgin is like the purity of God. These messages came from a man who sexually assaulted me during a lock-in at the church.

Six months pregnant at fourteen, I was sent to a home for unwed mothers where I was told that I was to place my baby for adoption—and all the reasons why it was good. I was terrified and numb and did what I was told. No one in my family, school, or church asked me about being pregnant—not if I was, not by whom—nothing. The intake paperwork asked for the father’s name. No one seemed to flinch at the fact that he was in his twenties and I was fourteen. They assumed I was just out having sex—sinful and impure. They did not know he forced himself on me, and I was too numb to tell.

Two girls were sent home after their babies were not selected for adoption—the babies would be Black. My Hispanic baby was chosen. After her birth, I was sent back to the hellhole in which I lived—despite my pleas not to have to leave. I received no counseling, no interventions, and no protection. They took my baby and sent me on my way.

Years later, in a conversation about abortion with a woman mentor in ministry, I learned about “back alley” abortions and how white elites were sent away to “boarding schools” to give birth. I thought about my experience and how the stories were all too similar.

In 1967 Ronald Reagan signed a California law that made it easier for women to access abortion. Just three years later, a headline in the New York Times reported that there was a shortage of white infants in adoption agencies, and the conversation began to change. In 1972 Nixon used the issue of abortion to sway Catholic voters (recent data shows that Catholic women have the highest rate of abortions). In 1980, Reagan, on a platform of being the party of the “moral majority,” promised more pro-life judges and a return to “family values.” It is well known that the rhetoric of both Nixon and Reagan was a dog whistle for white supremacists.

Fears of the replacement theory run deep in white supremacists. The Brookings Institute reports that by 2045 the United States will become a “white minority” country. Currently, women of Color are the highest rate of abortions at 38.4%. “Women of Color” includes Hispanic women (not Asian). This means that there are actually more white babies aborted than Black babies—this is what scares them.

The “pro-life” issue in the United States is not—and has never been—about babies or theology.  This is an issue of wealth and power—an issue of white supremacy. The goal of white supremacists is to prevent “replacement” by breeding as many white babies as possible.

White babies are adopted at an average cost of $30,000. Religious adoption agencies—primarily rooted in Catholicism or Evangelicalism—prey on impoverished white mothers to place the babies with adoptive families so as to give the child a “chance for a good life.” However, this “good life” is set up for white babies—others get sent back home.

Historically, the Church and the government colluded to control behaviors, amass wealth, steal land, and colonize indigenous people. When the government needed to curtail a behavior, it was deemed a sin by the church. When the Church needed to impose moral codes, the government created laws.

What we see from Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is the same tune but different lyrics.

The Church has used the government as a moral muscle. The government agreed, in exchange, for the pulpit to be the promoter of white supremacist ideology. We must be sober-minded and watchful. The adversary is seeking to devour. Many see the Dobbs decision as good. However, everything “good” ain’t God, and if it ain’t God, is it really good?