Black Pro-Life Leaders Launch Selma Project

Black pro-life leaders have announced a protest against unlicensed Selma, AL abortionist Samuel Lett to take place on June 19 (Juneteenth) and 20. They’re calling it the Selma Project.

Selma is of course a key city of the civil rights movement, and even today four out of five Selma residents are people of color. That adds a disturbing element to Alabama’s failure to address Lett’s unlicensed abortion practice.

Alabama law requires abortion businesses to meet the same regulations as other outpatient surgical facilities. But for unknown reasons, the state health department is not keen to enforce those regulations in Selma. The department is claiming that Lett does not commit enough abortions to qualify for the licensing regulation, but local activists have strong evidence to the contrary. The time has come for protest.

I should note: the Selma Project is not remotely secular. In the tradition of the civil rights movement, it is pastor-led and features a hearty Southern helping of scripture, prayer vigils, and worship.

And you know what? I’m okay with that. Because the Selma Project is not a “big-tent” event for all pro-lifers, like the March for Life or the Students for Life of America conference, and it doesn’t claim to be. This is an event specifically for the Black community in Selma, a time for them to stand up for themselves and their progeny, so that the state government gets their message loud and clear.

For all sorts of historical reasons, Black Americans remain much more religious than the United States as a whole. That shouldn’t keep secular pro-lifers from supporting valiant efforts to protect Black women and their preborn children.