Gardner's speech advocates for women's rights

Former Miss America semifinalist Day Gardner addressed the issue of abortion in the black community to a crowd of more than 30 Wednesday night.

Gardner, the national director of Black Americans for Life, said abortion among black women has gotten out of control and encouraged her audience to educate themselves and others about the effects of the practice.

“In the black community, this atrocity has reached terrible proportions,” Gardner said.

“If we knew the statistics, I know we as African Americans would not allow this evil and atrocious practice (to) go on.”

Black women make up 13 percent of women of childbearing age, but are responsible for three times more abortions in the United States than white women, she said.

“Many of us don’t realize the devastating effect of abortion on the black community,” she said. “The rest of us buy into the propaganda of the modern-day Margaret Sanger,” she said, referring to the 20th-century feminist.

Gardner said many women are using abortions as a form of birth control and claimed that college students and low-income women are being targeted by abortion clinics.

She said many women are led to believe that their lives will not be affected after having an abortion.

“The big lie is that if we allow them to kill our unborn children, our lives can go back to normal,” Gardner said. “No one has to know; it will be the same as it was before, but I say that this is wrong.”

Gardner went on to say that increasing awareness would help women understand the weight of their decision.

“I think it will help to understand why pro-life people such as myself consider this practice genocide,” Gardner said as she compared abortion to slavery and the Holocaust.

Gardner added that if doctors who perform abortions took a closer look, they would see their actions are wrong.

“Abortion doctors would have to admit to themselves that though they took an oath to save lives, they take them every day,” she said.

Gardner also voiced her displeasure with an abortion-rights stance that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People took last year.

“When I was growing up, they always seemed like a superhero organization,” she said. “Now it seems like they are saying, ‘If you are a minority or poor person, do the world a favor and kill your baby.’”

Gardner concluded her speech, sponsored by Carolina Students for Life, by stressing her view that it is an American responsibility to prevent more abortions.

“Forty-four million children killed by abortion is way too many. Enough is enough,” she said.

Those in attendance said they enjoyed Gardner’s speech and that abortion in the black community is an issue that should spur more discussion.

“I thought it was really informative,” said Jenny Stevens, a sophomore political science major.

“I know that many African-Americans on campus don’t come out and say whether they are pro-life or not, and it’s an important issue. It’s a human rights issue that crosses race lines.”

Kathryn Atkinson, a 2002 Carolina graduate, said Gardner addressed an issue that is very important to her.

“The value of life and that sense of worth has been lost,” Atkinson said.

“I am thankful that there are women like Day out there letting women know they have a choice.”

Cally Harris, a junior public policy and Russian and Eastern European studies double major, said the speech made her see the issue in a different light.

“The statistics and her point of view really opened my eyes to this as a black issue and that the black community is being targeted by Planned Parenthood,” Harris said. “I never thought of the abortion industry as a business.”

Kim Milian, a 1983 graduate of UNC, said Gardner did a good job bringing more attention to the issue.

“She put the issue of black women and genocide on the table,” Milian said. “There needs to be a greater awareness of what she shared tonight.”

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.