To: RELIGION EDITORS

Contact: Mar Munoz-Visoso of U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, O: +1-202-541-3200, C: +1-301-646-8616

WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Bishop Martin D. Holley, Auxiliary Bishop of Washington, issued a statement responding to a report by the Guttmacher Institute, Planned Parenthoods research branch, showing that black women have abortions at five times the rate of white women.

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.

Our legitimate commitment to other social concerns must not push the primary moral issue of abortion onto the back burner. It clearly must be at the heart and center of our discussion of the survival of African American people, Bishop Holley said.

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).

Bishop Holley called for the federal defunding of the abortion industry. Every year the federal government gives over $300 million to Planned Parenthood. Last year for the first time, Planned Parenthood took in over one billion dollars and reported a profit of $51 million, he said of the non-profit organization.

The Bishop called upon African Americans to 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.

The full text of Bishop Holleys statement can be found at: www.usccb.org/prolife/holley-overcomeabortion.pdf

SOURCE U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities

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