WASHINGTON, D.C., October 16, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Bishop Martin D. Holley, Auxiliary Bishop of Washington, issued a statement responding to a report by Planned Parenthood's Guttmacher Institute showing that black women have abortions at five times the rate of white women. 
"The number one cause of death in the African American community has been abortion. We have lost over 13 million lives. To put that in perspective, it is one third of our present Black population," wrote the bishop. "It [abortion] clearly must be at the heart and center of our discussion of the survival of African American people."Bishop Holley serves as Chair of the Sub-Committee on African American Affairs and is a member of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
The bishop condemned the $300 million of federal government funding poured into Planned Parenthood every year, and vowed to "join my voice with others in the Black community who have called for the defunding of the abortion industry."
The report cited was released in September by the Guttmacher Institute, Planned Parenthood's research branch, whose avowed mission is to "protect the reproductive choices of all women and men in the United States and throughout the world." (http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/sep/08092308.html)
"As an African American, I am saddened by evidence that Black women continue to be targeted by the abortion industry. The loss of any child from abortion is a tragedy, but we must ask: Why are minority children being aborted at such disproportionate rates?" Bishop Holley said.
"Over 80 percent of Planned Parenthood clinics are located in minority neighborhoods," he lamented. "Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, began the 'Negro Project' to reduce the Black population.
"My brothers and sisters, we can overcome abortion in our nation. Let us defend our community by rededicating ourselves to family life and marriage, promoting the gift of chastity and marital fidelity, committing ourselves to prayer and service to others and defending the life and dignity of each human person. We can welcome every child as a gift and we can overcome abortion."
To read Bishop Holley's statement in full, go to: http://www.usccb.org/prolife/holley-overcomeabortion.pdf