HuffPost, the left-wing news website, published an article claiming that it was “racist” for Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito to note the view that abortion is aimed at suppressing the black population in his draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade .
The leaked draft, which was published by Politico last week, reportedly represents a 5-4 majority in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, concerning a Mississippi law restricting abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
In a footnote on page 30 of the draft opinion, Alito refers to some amicus curiae (“friend of the Court”) briefs by pro-life groups that assert that there is a racist history to the pro-choice movement, which has its roots in the eugenics movement.
Alito notes:
Other amicus briefs present arguments about the motives of proponents of liberal access to abortion. They note that some such supporters have been motivated by a desire to suppress the size of the African American population. … And it is beyond dispute that Roe has had that demographic effect. A highly disproportionate percentage of aborted fetuses are black.
The May 5 HuffPost article these views as if they were Alito’s own, but he is citing amicus briefs, not stating his own opinion.
WASHINGTON, DC – DECEMBER 01: An activist with The Center for Popular Democracy Action holds a photo of U.S. Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito as they block an intersection during a demonstration in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on December 01, 2021 in Washington, DC. The Court heard arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, a case about a Mississippi law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks. With the addition of conservative justices to the court by former President Donald Trump, experts believe this could be the most important abortion case in decades and could undermine or overturn Roe v. Wade. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Alito’s supposed view, HuffPost says, is racist, because it assumes black people have no agency in abortion decisions:
The idea that abortion is a secret tool for Black genocide has been pushed by anti-abortion activists and conservatives for years. Latching on to the statistic that the abortion rate for Black people is higher than any other racial group, activists have peddled the idea that pro-choice and reproductive rights are all part of a secret plot to reduce the Black population.
“It’s a false thing to say and it’s grounded in racism and white supremacy,” said Marcela Howell, the president and CEO of In Our Own Voice, a reproductive rights organization focused on Black people.
The argument suggests, Howell explained, that Black people “have no agency over our lives. We fell victim to Planned Parenthood and other people telling us to abort our children and commit genocide.”
HuffPost admits, however, that a plurality of abortions are performed on black women, and a disproportionate number of abortions are performed on black women, roughly three times their share of the overall population of American women.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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