Alveda King, Ph.D., niece of Martin Luther King, Jr. shared her personal story and involvement in the anti-abortion and Civil Rights movements with the Creighton community on Monday.
Drawing from interactions with her “Uncle M.L.” and many personal experiences growing up in the Civil Rights era, King presented links between the Civil Rights struggle and the anti-abortion movement.
King opened her talk by affirming that contrary to popular belief, her uncle, Martin Luther King, was indeed anti-abortion, despite being awarded the Margaret Sanger Award from Planned Parenthood. According to King, her uncle declined the award, although his wife, Coretta Scott King, accepted it on his behalf.
King went on to share her own story of how her parents considered aborting her when they felt unready to have a child. King discussed how her mother was one of many young, pregnant African-American women to be approached by the Birth Control League, Planned Parenthood in its early stages, to consider something called a D & C procedure, a then-experimental abortion procedure.
After consulting their pastor, however, King’s parents decided to follow through with the pregnancy.
“My mother had a flyer from the Birth Control League advertising a D & C procedure, but she and my father felt like something wasn’t quite right about it,” King said. “They showed the flyer to their pastor, my grandfather, and he told them, ‘No. This is not a clump of tissue, this is my granddaughter.’”
King explained how her grandfather had had a dream about her, how she would be born with fair skin and bright red hair, which she was, thanks to Irish genes in the family, and how because of this dream, “[She] was allowed to be born.”
From stories of marching with her “Uncle M.L.” and having her house bombed during the Civil Rights movement, to her own abortion experiences and how she eventually became anti-abortion, King shared how she works to continue Martin Luther King’s legacy through the anti-abortion movement.
In particular, King explained how Planned Parenthood specifically “targets” African American women and college students most strongly and how detrimental this has been to the African-American race.
According to King, combatting this targeting, especially in the African-American community, and joining the pro-life movement is the way to continue participating in the modern Civil Rights struggle. And just as often as King shared her personal experiences of working for pro-life and civil rights, she referenced some of Martin Luther King Jr.’s most memorable quotes. Most often quoted was “An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” in regards to protecting the most vulnerable.
Creighton Students for Life, CSFL, put on the event and invited King to speak on campus, one of many speaking engagements she had in Omaha.
It was King’s post-abortive testimony that especially led Arts & Sciences junior Mike Boes, the vice president for CSFL to organize the event.
“Dr. King is post-abortive,” Boes said. “She has experienced firsthand the devastating physical, psychological and spiritual effects that abortion has on the human person. Her testimony speaks to the movement that would have this nation’s citizens believe that abortion comes without remorse.”
For Arts & Sciences senior Megan Kangiser, the president of CSFL, King’s breadth of personal experience and ability to speak to both pro-choice and pro-life perspectives made her a valuable speaker.
“[King] has really good authority in the pro-life cause by virtue of what she’s been through, two abortions herself, her mom wanted to abort her, etc.,” Kangiser said. “She appeals to a broad audience, partly because she’s the niece of MLK and has a rich family history in the Civil Rights movement, and partly because she approaches pro-life issues from a point of view that is quite unique. She can speak about how abortion particularly impacts the African-American community, and she also brings civil rights into the mix.
It is the link to the Civil Rights movement that Kangiser believes presents an important perspective.
“This Civil Rights approach appeals to people with a very wide variety of beliefs, and it can be a much easier place to start thinking and talking about pro-life issues with those who don’t agree, or who simply don’t know what they think,” Kangiser said. “Most would agree that civil rights are a good thing, so simply by virtue of being human, anyone could at least listen to Dr. King’s talk with an open mind and maybe see where she comes from.”
Both Boes and Kangiser felt the event offered a chance for students to consider their own stance on civil rights and anit-abortion issues.
“We hope that attendees were able to see a side of the pro-life cause that isn’t always voiced very loudly,” Kangiser said. “I think Dr. King’s talk really can remind us all of the point of being pro-life: that all life is worth being defended, simply because we are all human. Hopefully, those that are pro-life were able to enrich their beliefs from the talk. Also, I hope that those who are on the fence or who are not pro-life were able to listen to Dr. King’s talk with an open mind and heart, and were able to find common ground with prolifers, at least from a civil rights perspective.”
After nine years of civil rights and anti-abortion work spanning a variety of religious denominations, the organization Priests for Life and speaking engagements around the country, King recognized how controversial her message could be, yet how important it was for her to continue her work.
“People have told me my message is unpopular; it’s uncomfortable; it’s a disgrace,” King said. “But I’ve had so many people, young and old, all races, tell me in private and in public, ‘Thank you so much for sharing these things.’ For every testimony I give, it’s worth it.”