Howard Ellis: The right to life

In the Oct. 11 Point of View “Promoting a true right to life,” by Adams Wofford, the writer made the assertion that abortions increased under George W. Bush but decreased under Barack Obama. This cheap shot at Bush would be ironic if true, but it is false.

The number of abortions under Bush fell almost every year of his presidency. By the end of Bush’s term, the total number was more than a million fewer than during the eight years of the Clinton presidency. The downward trend, which started in 1988, has continued under presidents Democratic and Republican (Bush 41, Clinton, Bush 43, Obama).

There have been more than 57 million abortions since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973. Perhaps a third of them, roughly 19 million, were of black babies. The black population of the U.S. is around 40 million. Is the 19 million a form of genocide?

Wofford also criticized the funding of “private segregated academies” in favor of public schools. I wonder if Wofford knows that the worst inner-city schools are almost completely segregated and that these are the schools whose smart and hardworking children the private academies are designed to save?

This story was originally published October 18, 2015 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Howard Ellis: The right to life."