January 21, 2011

Abortion and Race

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Peter Kirsanow is upset that the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights refuses to discuss an explosive topic:

Black Abortions: The Forbidden Topic

….Nearly one out of every two black pregnancies ends in abortion. Blacks account for more than forty percent of all abortions in America, a rate that dwarfs that of any other race. Does anyone doubt that if such disparities existed on other serious issues, advocacy groups would be clamoring for hearings? Why the silence? Are some lives less valuable than others?

I don’t know if that statistic is correct. For now, I’ll take his word for it. Nor did I know that the Civil Rights Commission is forbidden by law from addressing abortion — though I can certainly imagine why it might be.

But exactly which advocacy groups does Kirsanow think should be clamoring for hearings? Feminist groups? They think abortion is OK, so there’s no reason for them to be concerned if one group has a higher abortion rate than others. Civil rights groups? Only if they think high abortion rates are somehow unfair to blacks. Conservative groups who don’t think anyone should be allowed to get an abortion? Bingo.

Meh. If you don’t like abortion, fine. We’ll all be arguing about this until we go to our graves. But trying to race bait the issue? That’s pathetic.

And while we’re on the subject, if you want to know which states make it easier and which states make it harder for women of all races to get abortions, check out our interactive map here.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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