Dr. Alveda King has spoken out following the deaths of Tonya Reaves, a 24-year-old Chicago woman, and Jennifer Morbelli, a 29-year-old Maryland woman.
Reaves died of a hemorrhage following an abortion in July. Morbelli died Feb. 7 after undergoing a procedure at an abortion clinic.
“The death count keeps rising. Why aren’t our highly visible ‘leaders’ protesting?” King asked. King is director of African American Outreach for Priests for Life and post-abortive spokeswoman for the Silent No More Awareness Campaign.
She is the niece of slain Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Her father was Martin Luther King’s brother, Alfred Daniel King, who served as pastor of Mt. Vernon First Baptist Church in Newnan.
Alveda King joined Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, and Day Gardner, founder of the National Black Pro-Life Union, in raising concerns following Morbelli’s death.
“It has happened again. Another mother has been killed by so-called ‘safe and legal’ abortion,” Pavone said. “It happens constantly, in fact, but the abortion industry usually succeeds in covering it up.”
Morbelli died a day after undergoing a procedure at a Maryland clinic operated by LeRoy Carhart. Carhart has been involved in two abortion cases that reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
According to Pavone, the woman was “about 33 weeks pregnant.” Pavone stated, “These abortions are legal, and he performs them at his ... (clinic) in Germantown, Md.”
When Morbelli “developed complications,” Carhart “could not be reached,” according to Pavone. “She was taken to the emergency room by private vehicle, and she died.”
“Women of all ages, shapes, sizes and ethnicities are dying by abortion,” King said. “My great-great grandfather, Dr. Adam Daniel Williams, a pastor and original NAACP founder, would be appalled to know that mothers and children are being denied liberty and life at the hands of the abortion/contraceptives industry. We must recall abortion now.”
“This recent death adds to the chilling reports of reproductive genocide in America. Why is the NAACP silent... again?” Gardner asked.
“As a child, I thought the NAACP to be a super hero organization, an organization that would fight racism down to its very core – and like a super hero – it would always stand for truth and justice... fighting boldly for civil rights and freedom for all black people,” Gardner said. “Apparently, there was some fine print in there that said – except for those children who are too small to defend themselves.”
“There really is a National Alliance, Campaign or Association for the Abortion of Colored People. This force to be reckoned with includes Planned Parenthood, the NAACP, The Congressional Black Caucus, the abortion supporting political powers that be and - unfortunately – the Christian pastors of America who for the most part are watching this debacle play out from the sidelines,” Alveda King stated.
“What bothers me most is the NAACP is very quick to recognize racism everywhere else except the one place that truly affects all of us. Black women and their unborn children are targeted by the abortion industry while the NAACP looks the other way,” Gardner concluded.
“Pray that the voices against this injustice will increase, will grow stronger, and that America will wake up before it is too late,” King said.
Earlier this year, Alveda King made strong statements about abortion and same-sex marriage.
“In the wake of seemingly endless moral debacles such as Planned Parenthood’s slaughter of Tonya Reaves, a young Chicago mother, and Washington’s almost manic stronghold tactics to weaken natural marriage, thousands of African-Americans are outraged by the NAACP’s support of abortion and homosexual marriage,” she said.
According to Priests for Life, hundreds of NAACP members have already burned their membership cards in protest of NAACP’s stance on various issues including same-sex marriage and abortion.
“This year we shudder to recall the pain and suffering of the millions of mothers and our dead babies after 40 years of the landmine decision of Roe vs. Wade, which made abortion legal in the United States in all nine months of pregnancy,” King said.
She has said that her father, uncle and grandfathers – all ministers – would not have been in favor of same-sex marriage. “Our bloodline embraces the teachings of Jesus Christ, outlined in the Holy Bible. The Bible is clear on the tenets of natural life, natural marriage and family,” she said.
“The NAACP’s departure from the wisdom and life affirming principles of the Bible is very alarming, and must be confronted to ensure the safety, security and future of our children,” King added.
“America is under attack by a three-headed monster – racism, reproductive genocide and sexual perversion,” she said. “This monster is destroying America from within. America needs to repent for not shunning the sins of our forefathers.”
Alveda King said there is a need “to forgive and receive forgiveness for the harmful, hurtful influences of slavery and subsequent ties to sexism and racism.” She added, “We need the blood of Jesus to cleanse us and the full armor of God to protect us.”
In 2011, Alveda King spoke in Peachtree City at the Fayette Pregnancy Resource Center’s first fundraising banquet. In 2008, she was the featured speaker at a press gathering sponsored by Georgia Right to Life at the Georgia Capitol on Human Life Amendment Day.
Alfred Daniel Williams King, Alveda King’s father, became pastor of Mt. Vernon First Baptist Church in Newnan in 1959. “He only pastored four churches, and one of them was Mt. Vernon,” Dianne Wood of the African-American Alliance said of A.D. King in a 2009 interview.
Mt. Vernon was the first pastorate for the recent Morehouse graduate, and his older brother preached a revival at Mt. Vernon during the time A.D. King was a pastor in Newnan.
A.D. King pastored churches in Birmingham, Ala., and Louisville, Ky., before returning to historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he was co-pastor with his father after the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. The co-pastorate at the historic Atlanta church lasted only about a year.
A.D. King, an accomplished swimmer, died July 21, 1969, in what was officially deemed a drowning accident. His death — like that of his brother — has been the subject of controversy over the years.
Martin Luther King “and my father, Rev. A. D. King, are brothers, fallen soldiers of the 20th Century Civil Rights Movement who now reside in heaven,” Alveda King said. “Many people don’t even know that Martin had a brother and a sister. He was a beloved uncle and family member.”
Alveda King noted 2013 marks several significant landmark anniversaries, including 150 years since the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, 100 years since the formation of the Federal Reserve System, 50 years since her uncle’s “I have a dream” speech and 40 years since Roe v. Wade.
“This will surely be a year of transition, and there is a need for a deep spiritual awakening. In fact it’s time for America to wake up before the dream becomes a nightmare. Thank God that Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream,” she said.
“It’s been 150 years since Emancipation was penned,” Alveda King noted. Babies,” she said, “are still not free.”