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Alveda King: abortion is a civil rights issue

By Scott Tibbs, November 2, 2011

"I have a dream. It's in my genes." That's how Dr. Alveda King opened her October 25 speech in Bloomington carrying on her uncle's legacy of fighting for civil rights. While we've made progress against racial discrimination, unborn babies have no legal rights in America. King quoted her uncle, Martin Luther King Jr., when she said "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" - a reason to oppose the injustice of abortion.

"We who fight for life are the abolitionists of the 21st Century," she said.

King had two abortions before becoming pro-life. Before telling her story, she answered a common question about whether it is appropriate to talk about such things in public: "I like to tell the truth and shame the Devil." She said her goal is to spread the standard of the lord and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

King's story nearly ended before it started. Her mother got pregnant in high school and realized it when she was in college. The Birth Control League was handing out pamphlets on campus to "help" women with unintended pregnancies. They claimed that what was growing inside King's mother was just a lump of flesh. She went to her pastor, Martin Luther King Senior. His response was that abortion was wrong: "No, that's not a lump of flesh, that's my granddaughter." That would be repeated later as a turning point in Alveda King's life.

King's first abortion was what she called an "involuntary D&C" in her doctor's office. When he realized she was pregnant, he said he would "help" her. Without telling her what he was doing, the "doctor" performed a painful surgical procedure. What he was doing was murdering her baby without her knowledge or consent. This is not uncommon, King said to the packed Whittenberger Auditorium.

King said that the abortion rights struggle is the same struggle as the fight against slavery and the civil rights movement. Dred Scott was told he was only ⅗ of a person. "A little baby in the womb is told, you're not a person. We can't see you," King said. "Who is going to stand up for that little baby?"

In the mid 1970's, King was pregnant again after her birth control failed. Her husband urged her not to get an abortion, and she went to her pastor again. Martin Luther King Sr. gave her the same advice he gave to her mother decades earlier. "They're lying to you. That's not a lump of flesh, that's my great grandchild."

It was at that point her views on abortion began to evolve. At first, she decided she "wouldn't abort a baby again, but I can't tell anybody else not to do it." Then, she became pro-life and began to actively work to oppose abortion. While a woman has the right to choose what she does with her body, King said, "The baby is not her body."

Addressing the subsidies that both city and county government give to Planned Parenthood each year, King said that people in Monroe County need to elect different people. "We talk about separation of church and state. Well, the church is going to separate you from the state," she said.

More on Dr. Alveda King:

Alveda King's website: http://www.KingForAmerica.com

Alveda King on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/dralvedaking

Alveda King on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AlvedaKing

Previous Editorials:

Barack Obama's missed opportunity on civil rights -- February 2, 2011

Abortion, racism and civil rights -- February 18, 2010