'The most dangerous place for an African-American is in the womb': Black politician criticises anti-abortion billboard

Controversial: The billboard poster, erected in Manhattan's SoHo neighbourhood in New York, has sparked outrage

Controversial: The billboard poster, erected in Manhattan's SoHo neighbourhood in New York, has sparked outrage

A black New York City Council member says an anti-abortion billboard unveiled to coincide with Black History Month is 'highly offensive'.

The sign, erected in Manhattan's SoHo neighbourhood in New York, shows a very young female black girl and reads: 'The most dangerous place for an African-American is in the womb.'

The campaign is by a group called Life Always and one board member, the Reverend Stephen Broden, who is also black, likens abortion to 'a genocidal plot'.

'During Black History Month, we celebrate our history, but our future is in jeopardy as a genocidal plot is carried out through abortion,' he said.

Brooklyn councillor Letitia James, of the Working Families Party, said the timing was misguided and told the New York Daily News that comparing abortion to genocide 'is highly offensive'.

In a statement she said: 'It is misguided to use Black History Month as a tool to promote this message.

'Every woman has the right to make personal choices in regards to her body, and I respect many different points of view, but to compare abortion to terrorism and genocide is highly offensive.'

The Life Always group says its message counters what it calls Planned Parenthood's 'targeting of minority neighbourhoods'.

Planned Parenthood - which offers reproductive health care, sex education, and information - has in turn called it an 'offensive and condescending effort to stigmatise and shame African-American woman [and] a divisive message around race to restrict access to medical care'.

Letitia James
Reverend Stephen Broden

Highly offensive: Brooklyn councillor Letitia James, left, has blasted the billboard, while Reverend Stephen Broden, right, has used Black History Month to highlight the position of Life Always on termination

'Our message is one that's provocative,' Reverend Broden responded via the New York Daily News. 'It's true and it's accurate and it's real.'

The billboard has been erected on the corner of Watts Street and Sixth Avenue, just half a mile from a Planned Parenthood centre, and is set to stay there for six weeks.

Planned Parenthood says only 3 per cent of its work is to do with abortions - and over 80 per cent are aimed at preventing unintended pregnancies.

Provocative: The Life Always website maps out the organisation's anti-abortion stance

Provocative: The Life Always website maps out the organisation's anti-abortion stance

Life Always is basing their provocative poster on figures from the New York Health Department, according to the Huffington Post. It says that Blacks had the largest number of terminations in 2009, with 40,798 - those of Hispanic origin had the second highest, with 28,364.

New York's abortion rate was almost 40 per cent that year, and the three Planned Parenthood facilities nearest the billboard poster reported almost 17,000 abortions in 2010.

Statistics show that blacks make up about 13 per cent of the American population, and account for 36.4 per cent of terminations in America, the Daily Post reports.

'The most dangerous place for an African-American is in the womb': Black politician criticises anti-abortion billboard

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