To the editor:

As we approach the 32nd Anniversary of Roe v. Wade I wish to address this letter to those in the African-American community.

According to the Center for Disease Control, since 1973 203,695 African-Americans have died from AIDS, 306,313 from violent crimes, 370, 723 from accidents, 1,638,350 from cancer, 2,266,789 from heart disease, yet 13 million have died from abortion.

A 1993 study by Howard University showed that African-American women who previously had an abortion were 4.7 more times likely to develop breast cancer.

On any given day in this country, 1,452 African-American lives are lost to abortion.

If it weren’t for abortion, the African-American population would be 35 percent larger that what it is currently. These are 13 million African-Americans who will never hold public office, vote, influence public policy, or stand up for the rights of others.

If Dr. Martin Luther King were alive today, whose side would he be on, what would he say?

I urge everyone in the African-American community to work towards ending this evil and refrain from supporting those individuals, political leaders, organizations, and government entities that foster and fund abortion.

The greatest atrocity against the rights and lives of African-Americans in the last 30 years is that of abortion.

Brent Keith

Valley Grande