by Susan W. Enouen, P.E.

New evidence suggests that Planned Parenthood is targeting Hispanic neighborhoods in the same way it targets African American communities.

Hispanics represent 12.5% of the population of the United States 1, and available data indicates that Hispanic women are more than twice as likely to have an abortion than white women.2

Life Issues Institute has examined census data for Hispanic populations surrounding 152 Planned Parenthood abortion facilities, applying the same approach described in “Planned Parenthood Abortion Facilities Target African American Communities.”3

A 2000 Census data search was used to determine the percentage of Hispanics within one, three and five-mile radiuses, respectively, of each abortion outlet. These percentages were then compared to the Hispanic percentage of the city and that of the state as a whole.

Results show that nearly 66% of communities surrounding these abortion facilities have measurably higher percentages of Hispanics than either the surrounding city or state.

When combined with African American populations, over 76% of the Planned Parenthood abortion facilities are located in areas where these collective minority populations are higher.

Finally, a striking 45% of the abortion facilities are surrounded by Hispanic/African American populations that are at least ten percentage points higher than that of the city or the state. Considering that Hispanics and African Americans combined make up only 24.8% of the national population, ten percentage points is a significant variation.

The fact that Hispanics are targeted by the abortion industry puts them at high risk.

Left unchecked, this situation could lead Hispanics into the same tragic pattern that has killed fourteen million African American babies and made African American women three times more likely to have an abortion than white women.

These census studies provide evidence of Planned Parenthood’s underlying goal of making abortion highly accessible to these minority populations. This information must be shared with the leaders of these minority groups so that they can mobilize against it. Only then can we begin to neutralize the devastating effects of targeted access to abortion for Hispanics and African Americans.

1 US Census Bureau; 2000 Census
2 US Center for Disease Control Abortion Surveillance Report 11/26/04 Accessed at: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss5212a1.htm
3 Susan W. Enouen, “Planned Parenthood Abortion Facilities Target African American Communities,” Life Issues Connector, October 2005.

Accessed at: http://www.lifeissues.org/connector/index.html

[Life Issues, January 2006]