King shares her anti-abortion message

By Kiri Walton

The Gainesville Sun
Gainesville, Florida

March 29. 2007

Alveda King, the niece of Martin Luther King Jr., told a room of about 70 people about her dream to help more people fight what she calls "the war on the womb."

King came to speak at the University of Florida on Wednesday night as part of her organization Priests for Life, in conjunction with the campus Pro-Life Alliance to counteract "The Margaret Sanger Play," which was being put on by Vox: Voices for Planned Parenthood, during the same time at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.

King taught college for 19 years and served in the Georgia state House of Representatives for two terms.

She also was an actress on the drama, "In The Heat of the Night."

She said she has had two abortions.

"How can the dream survive if we murder the children?" she said. "I think we have an obligation to protest this war."

King explained how she came to be an anti-abortion activist, and after showing her music video, "Latter Rain" in which she sang and rapped, she opened the floor up to questions.

At 19, she went to her doctor who she said performed an abortion without her knowledge. Abortion was not legal at that time.

Later, King said she had her second abortion because she was divorced and trying to get back with her husband.

She said she believes she had a miscarriage because of her previous abortions.

She attributes not having any more abortions to the strong black men in her life, one being "Daddy King" or Martin Luther King Sr.

When asked how she dealt with accusations of pushing her faith on others, King said civil rights was founded in the church, and that she has a Christian background that is deeply rooted within her.

"I won't ring anybody by the neck because they don't believe what I believe, but I will take them by the hand and tell them they have to stop killing people," she said. "I make no apologies for my Christian roots."

King said she considers herself to be a civil rights activist, and that the issue of abortion is a civil rights issue, with the civil right belonging to the baby, whom she said is the one in need of an advocate.

"I'm pro-life, but this topic is taboo in the African-American community," said Lauren Case, a student at UF and employee at the Women's Resource Center, a crisis pregnancy and family planning center in Gainesville.

"To have a public icon speak about those issues is great because it's how we're going to get change," Case said.