Jack & Jill Politics

Congressman Bob Beauprez’s (R-CO) run for governor has taken a strange turn in a recent NPR interview with host Ryan Warner. The gubernatorial candidate is very concerned about the millions of unborn black babies — tragically killed every day by their misguided, selfish or evil mothers. Read for yourself(emphasis mine):

BEAUPREZ: Tragically, I think, in some of our ethnic communities we’re seeing very, very high percentages of babies, children, pregnancies end in abortion. And I think that it’s time we have an out-in-the-open discussion about what that means.

WARNER: Do you know which ethnic communities in particular?

BEAUPREZ: I’ve seen numbers as high as 70 percent, maybe even more, in the African-American community that I think is just appalling. And I’m not saying it’s appalling on them; I’m saying it’s appalling that something’s happening to encourage that. Frankly, it raises another question: Do we think it’s OK that that many African-American babies aren’t allowed to be born and live an otherwise normal life and reach the blessings, the fullness of the American dream? I think those are very, very serious, very intense, very personal questions that a society such as ours ought to ponder.

Beauprez though is sadly mis-informed. Or crazy. Because the abortion rate is probably closer to 33% among African-American women. Still high, but far from 70%.

As I’ve previously written, the abortion rate is 3 times higher among African-Americans than among white women. This is in part a crisis of the U.S. healthcare system that makes preventative care and health education difficult to obtain for those living in poverty. And 1/3 of blacks still live below the poverty line.

The trouble here is that Beauprez is sounding crazy. And desperate. Is this some kind of compassionate conservatism that he’s promoting? Is he advocating outlawing abortion in the U.S. to save the poor unborn black babies of America? A dream deferred indeed — how can a tiny, disadvantaged and dead black baby expect to live the American dream? Mr. Beauprez, thank you so much for exaggerating this problem and working hard to ensure my sure-to-be-foolish reproductive choices are duly limited so that more “ethnic” children like mine will grow up in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Thanks for trying to impose your religious beliefs on me. Thanks for your cynical, false concern.

Hard to believe this man is a Member of Congress.

I hope that this sort of talk encourages people out there to consider Bill Ritter, the Democratic, non-crazy candidate for governor of Colorado. He seems like a very good alternative.

Thanks also to Colorado Media Matters for covering the story.