“We’re winning” the battle for the public mind on the issue of abortion, pro-life activist Alveda King told the 27th annual pro-life “Rose Day” event, in her keynote address held in the chambers of the Oklahoma House of Representatives. She happily noted that pregnancy care centers now outnumber abortion clinics in America.

King, the niece of the late civil rights icon, Martin Luther King, Jr., serves as a pastoral associate and director of Civil Rights for the Unborn, the African-American Outreach for Priests for Life and Gospel of Life Ministries. Rose Day was first conceived by two pro-lifers, Joan Naylor and Ruth McFarland, in Oklahoma, in the wake of the Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, which declared abortion a “right” in all 50 states. Pro-lifers are encouraged to take a rose to their legislator, and ask them to support the right to life. In 1990, the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma (BGCO — the state Southern Baptist association) took over the leadership, working closely with other churches, especially Oklahoma Roman Catholics, and Oklahomans for Life, in spearheading the effort. A student singing group from Bishop McGuinness, a Catholic high school, provided music leading up to the program.

Anthony Jordan, the executive director of the BGCO, praised the Rose Day efforts, saying, “I truly cannot think of a more critical time in the struggle to protect the unborn.” Paul Coakley, the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma, echoed Jordan’s remarks. “Rose Day is an important opportunity for the pro-life community in Oklahoma to show our legislators and our governor that Oklahomans respect that fundamental right and stand for life.”

King is a former college professor and was elected as a Democrat to the Georgia House of Representatives, serving two terms. She later became a Republican, and ran for Congress. Coretta Scott King, the widow of Martin Luther King, did not support her.

Since 1983, King has been delivering public speeches against abortion. In 2012, she co-founded Women for (Herman) Cain, in Cain’s presidential bid. She supported Donald Trump in the last presidential election.

In her remarks, she compared the battle for the unborn in legislative chambers such as the one in Oklahoma in which she was speaking to the movie Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. In the movie, Jimmy Stewart plays a senator who faces a seemingly impossible fight against government corruption. She also asked her audience to watch the upcoming pro-life motion picture, starring Stephen Baldwin and Jon Voight, Roe v. Wade: The Movie.

Several pro-life legislators, as well as the governor and lieutenant governor, were introduced to the packed chamber and gallery, and King expressed disappointment that no African-American lawmakers had opted to attend. She also said it was embarrassing how the Congressional Black Caucus sat for the entire State of the Union message of President Trump’s, suggesting that perhaps they should now stand up, walk out, and let someone else take their seats.

When she was conceived in 1950, King said that her mother had wanted to abort her so she could continue college, but her grandfather (Martin Luther King, Sr.) persuaded her mother that would be against the Bible. According to Alveda King, there was a group in her community at the time, running what was called The Negro Project, which promoted “secret” abortions for black women. Despite owing her very existence to the fact that her mother chose not to abort her, King lamented that she herself later had two abortions, and a later miscarriage, a result of the two abortions. Later, however, King said she became a Christian and then a pro-life activist. In her talk, she compared the rights of the unborn to the civil rights movement associated with her famous uncle, proclaiming the right to life is a civil right and a “human right, a God-given right.”

She then said that her famous uncle was pro-life, adding that he and his wife, Coretta, did not agree on the issue. When Martin Luther King, Jr. won the Margaret Sanger Award from Planned Parenthood in 1966, he refused to accept the award. According to Alveda King, King’s wife, Coretta, accepted it for him.

Today, Alveda King is a columnist for NewsMax.com, and has spoken out against same-sex "marriage." In her article “Human Sexuality: It All Started With An Apple,” she wrote, “My dad, A.D. King, Uncle MLK, and Granddaddy King passed on to me their beliefs on biblical marriage. Life is a human civil right, so is procreative marriage.… We must now go back to the beginning, starting with Genesis, and teach about God’s plan for marriage.… It’s time to start from scratch and lay the foundation all over again.”

She has served on several boards, including Heartbeat International, Georgia Right for Life, Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, and Abortion Recovery International. Today, she lives in Atlanta, where she is the mother of six children, and is a “doting grandmother.”

Photo of Alveda King: lukexmartin via wikimedia