Pro-life campaign targeting African-Americans ties abortion to slavery

Abortion is the new slavery, according to some pro-life groups.

Billboards aimed at African-American women are popping up in various cities, but they have controversy written all over them.

A billboard in Atlanta reads, "The 13th Amendment Freed Us. Abortion Enslaves Us." Radiance Foundation launched the new campaign, spreading its message on 50 billboards. The same organization launched a similar campaign in 2010, claiming "Black Children Are An Endangered Species," according to the Huffington Post.

"When you look at what abortion has brought to the black community, it can't be typified to anything other than present-day slavery," Ryan Bomberger, chief creative officer of The Radiance Foundation told the Huffington Post. "Roe v. Wade used the 14th Amendment — which finally gave humanity to African Americans — and contorted it to give someone the right to kill an unborn child. It's just like slavery, because you have a class of people who are considered less than human, and therefore they can be treated like property."

The American Civil Liberties Union issued a statement slamming the Atlanta campaign. ACLU officials were outraged by the billboards and the Radiance Foundation's decision to launch on Juneteenth, a day commemorating the abolition of slavery.

"This campaign is nothing more than a racist attack on African-American women," Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, ACLU staff attorney, said in the statement. "By insinuating that African-American women cannot be trusted to make decisions about their health care, these billboards only serve to prolong the oppression that so many men and women in this country have struggled for so long to overcome — the very struggle we are supposed to be commemorating today."

Another anti-abortion billboard in Oakland, Calif., has caused some contention. The title reads "Black & Beautiful," and is accompanied by a picture of an African-American infant. The Issues of Life Foundation and the Radiance Foundation raised the billboard, which has incited reactions from Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., according to WDAM, an NBC affiliate.

"They stigmatize African-American women, they're not positive message," Lee told WDAM. "All women should have a right to make their own decisions without anyone interfering with those personal decisions."

Ryan Scott Bomberger, founder of Radiance Foundation, believes the campaign is a success despite the congresswoman's response.

Bomberger told the Christian Post that the black community supports their efforts against abortion.

EMAIL: jferguson@desnews.com