Advert hits out at 'womb lynching'

A provocative advertising campaign highlighting the disproportionately high rate of abortions...

A provocative advertising campaign highlighting the disproportionately high rate of abortions among African-American women has gone on display in the US.

Emblazoned on billboards across Atlanta is the face of a black baby and the sober claim: "Black children are an endangered species."

Designed by Georgia Right To Life and the Radiance Foundation, a pro-adoption pressure group, critics say the campaign is designed to tap into a belief found in some sections of the community that African-American women are targeted for abortion in order to restrict the growth of the black population.

The fear has found support among some black anti-abortion activists, many of whom describe the procedure as "womb lynching".

While there is no dispute that African-Americans have more abortions than other ethnic groups - the figure currently stands at around 37% of the total number - pro-choice activists say the rate can be explained by underlying socio-economic problems and sub-standard healthcare insurance.

Vanessa Cullins, vice president for medical affairs at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said: "The notion that abortion providers are targeting certain groups of people is absurd - it's using race to undermine decisions that responsible black women are making about whether to terminate a pregnancy or not."

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