Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) asked on Thursday whether or not the Congressional Black Caucus cared about unborn black lives as much as they cared about those killed by police.
Duffy asked why the CBC didn’t focus more on “how their communities are targeted in abortion.”
“Here are some stunning facts. The African-American community is 15 percent of the country as a whole, but accounts for 40 percent of the abortions. Fifteen percent of Americans, 40 percent of the abortions. In New York City, the most recent statistic is that African-American women had more abortions than live births,” he said.
“My liberal friends, Congressional Black Caucus members, talk about fighting for the defenseless, the hopeless and the downtrodden,” Duffy added. “There is no one more hopeless and voiceless than an unborn baby, but their silence is deafening. I can’t hear them. Where are they standing up for their communities, advocating and fighting for their right to life?”
CBC member Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) responded to his question the next day on the House floor:
I don’t expect Representative Duffy to understand why his comments were so offensive, nor do I anticipate him apologizing for them. What he and so many of his Republican colleagues fail to understand is the underlying context behind high abortion rates in African American communities. High rates of abortion are related to poverty and lack of access to prevention services. A number of African American women face multiple barriers to accessing quality, affordable health care, which can lead to higher rates of both unintended pregnancy and abortion.
Representative Duffy’s hypocrisy on this issue is as predictable as it is offensive. If he truly believes that we all should be fighting for the “hopeless and voiceless” among us, why doesn’t he stand with us as we defend Planned Parenthood, an organization committed to ensuring all communities, and especially those most in need, have access to high-quality care? Where was his support when my Congressional Black Caucus colleagues and I tried to secure greater funding for SNAP, WIC, and Head Start? Where was his advocacy when we needed Republican support to ensure that we have highly trained and qualified school personnel like social workers and counselors for our most vulnerable students?