Alveda King, Martin Luther King Jr.’s niece, presented a pro-life speech at the Lory Student Center to a crowd of about 100 late Monday night.

Students for Life, a pro-life student organization, hosted the event.

Alveda King spoke about her upbringing and how it shaped her views against abortion today.

She presented her pro-life stances to a large crowd of CSU students and community members in the LSC ballroom as she spoke about her life as a Black woman growing up in a religious home.


Alveda King began her presentation by asking her audience to place a hand over their heart, and sing “How great thou art” before speaking about her upbringing as a Baptist with her family, including her uncle and grandfather, Martin Luther King Sr.

“People believe that being pro-life (means) only caring about the baby,” Alveda King said. “That cannot be farther from the truth. We care about the mother and the elderly too.”

Alveda King said that Planned Parenthood told her parents to consider an abortion following her conception. Her father disagreed, and MLK Sr. claimed that he had seen the unborn child in a dream years prior, and described King to her parents.

“That’s my granddaughter!” King Sr. had said, according to Alveda King.

Alveda King’s parents decided against the abortion, and latershe was born into the family as the oldest child.

Alveda King claimed that Planned Parenthood was focusing on population control in the Black community. She spoke on how Planned Parenthood approached the community claiming to help, but said they as offered sterilization as a form of population control.

Alveda King opposes the funding of Planned Parenthood by the government.

Despite her pro-life stance now, she did not always take that position. King said that for a time, she was “radical pro-choice” before returning to her pro-life beliefs.

“A woman has a right to her body,” Alveda King said. “But, that is not her body. What about the baby?”

During this time, Alveda King had two abortions secretely, and later had one miscarriage. She said that her miscarriage was a direct result of her abortions, and that the abortions had left her body damaged.

Following her first divorce, Alveda King became pregnant again and considered aborting the child. The father of the child asked to save the child, and Alveda King’s grandfather had a similar reaction.

Alveda King believes that her uncle would not have condoned abortion, and that was the way her family was raised.

Alveda King has been giving pro-life speeches since 1983, and has 40 scheduled for 2016, and 30 scheduled for 2017.

“Some (of my) testimonies are hard, some are easy,” Alveda King said. “Sometimes it feels like it was yesterday.”

King marched and was jailed in the ‘60s, like much of her family, and said that Planned Parenthood was trying to restrain the Black population at the time.

King said that her experiences of receiving one of her abortions from Planned Parenthood left her with health problems and almost forced her to receive surgery, and left many women in poor mental health.

“Abortion is not health care,” Alveda King said. “We didn’t have it right.”

King took questions from the audience, and spoke briefly on Roe v. Wade, the presidential election and the Black Lives Matter movement.

“We need to make abortions unthinkable,” Alveda King said. “We (have to) change the heart first. Overturning Roe v. Wade will not make it illegal right away, but it will be a start.”

In response to a question about the election, Alveda King said to focus on the stances the candidates take.

“I supported (Trump), but I did not endorse him,” Alveda King said. “I have never seen anything like this election before.”

Alveda King was asked by an audience member about her position on the Black Lives Matter movement.

“Yeah, Black Lives Matter because John 3:16 matters,” Alveda King said. “I have never agreed with killing police … But, fighting over skin color is just so superficial.”

King encouraged her audience to become involved with Students For Life. She also sold her book “King Rules” following the presentation.

Collegian reporter Tony Villalobos May can be reached online at news@collegian.com or on Twitter at @TonyTheGnarly.