An abortion billboard in Dallas, Texas, directly addresses black women with the message that abortion is “self-care.” Pro-life activists pointed out that this targeting verges on genocide.

“Black women take care of their families by taking care of themselves,” the billboard reads, with the bold all-caps message: “ABORTION IS SELF-CARE.” The billboard also includes the hashtag #TrustBlackWomen.

Obianuju Ekeocha, founder and president of Culture of Life Africa, decried “the boldness of abortion-racism” in this billboard. “Black communities are being targeted by the abortion industry with black women 3times more likely to abort their babies than white women,” Ekeocha tweeted. “Yet,here is a billboard campaign to glamorize the killing of black babies. Dear sisters,wake up & walk away.”

The boldness of abortion-racism.

Black communities are being targeted by the abortion industry with black women 3times more likely to abort their babies than white women. Yet,here is a billboard campaign to glamorize the killing of black babies.

Dear sisters,wake up & walk away. https://t.co/8O1uGDmQcN — Obianuju Ekeocha (@obianuju) August 29, 2018

“This is a billboard in Dallas, TX, trying to convince Black women to exterminate themselves,” Lila Rose, founder of the pro-life organization LiveAction, tweeted. “The abortion lobby’s war against Blacks is real. Blacks make up 13% of the population, but endure 35% of abortions. In NYC, a Black baby is more likely to be aborted than to be born.”

This is a billboard in Dallas, TX, trying to convince Black women to exterminate themselves. The abortion lobby's war against Blacks is real. Blacks make up 13% of the population, but endure 35% of abortions. In NYC, a Black baby is more likely to be aborted than to be born. pic.twitter.com/iAx9eeN9Co — Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) August 30, 2018

Black women are the most likely racial group to have abortions. Abortion and birth control efforts went hand-in-hand with the eugenics movement in the early 1900s. Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, embraced the eugenics movement. She once declared that “the unbalance between the birth rate of the ‘unfit’ and the ‘fit'” was “admittedly the greatest present menace to civilization.”

“The most urgent problem today is how to limit and discourage the over-fertility of the mentally and physically defective,” Sanger wrote.

It is hotly contested whether Sanger intended to push abortion to the black population due to racism.

In any case, abortion activists have indeed advertised abortion in heavily black areas. This January, billboards advertising abortion in Cleveland seemed directly aimed at black populations.

The Dallas billboard calling abortion “self-care” directed viewers toward the AFIYA Center. The specific link went to a webpage explaining that this “abortion is self-care” billboard involved a direct response to a pro-life billboard also erected in Dallas.

“ABORTION is not healthcare. It HURTS women and MURDERS their BABIES,” the pro-life billboard stated. The National Black Pro-Life Coalition erected this billboard, urging women to keep their babies.

“Anti-abortion extremists from a group called the National Black Pro-Life Coalition put up a billboard in a neighborhood full of Black women to try to shame and stigmatize us for ending a pregnancy,” the AFIYA Center explained. “This is unacceptable” (emphasis original).

“Putting a billboard like this one in an area full of Black women is a gesture that will not go unchecked,” Marsha Jones, the center’s executive director, said in a statement. “We know exactly what we need to do to keep our families, communities, and selves afloat, all you need to do is: trust Black women. Or leave us be.”

The pro-life billboard did not involve mistrusting women, but urging them to keep their babies, rather than kill them.

Furthermore, a January study published in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons found that 73.8 percent of women who had abortions felt unwanted pressure to kill their unborn babies. Abortion is often presented as an empowering choice, but for so many women it is the exact opposite.

Women are harmed by abortions. Some studies have shown that induced abortion increases the risk of breast cancer. Women also suffer psychologically from abortion.