Niece of MLK Jr. criticizes abortion, Planned Parenthood

October 26, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

BOARDMAN

Dr. Alveda King has seen her share of trauma in her life, some of which has resulted in having undergone two abortions and their aftermath, the pro-life activist and niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said during a presentation she gave Thursday.

“How can the dream survive if we murder the children?” King told an audience of about 350 who attended the free event at St. Charles Church, 7393 Westview Drive.

Sponsoring her talk, “How Can the Dream Survive?” was Men and Women United for Life, a local pro-life group.

The 61-year-old King, pastoral associate of African American Outreach for Priests for Life, told her audience she had two abortions, the first of which her doctor provided without her family’s knowledge, adding that she was divorced soon thereafter.

Planned Parenthood gave King her second abortion in 1973, the same year the U.S. Supreme Court handed down the Roe v. Wade decision, which made abortions legal, she continued.

King, who’s also an author, minister and former Georgia congresswoman, sharply criticized Planned Parenthood for giving her what she said was ill advice before and after the abortions.

“My body was damaged by all the lies Planned Parenthood gave me,” King added.

Despite having won the Margaret Sanger Award from Planned Parenthood in 1966, Martin Luther King Jr. was pro-life and did not attend the ceremony, Alveda King noted, adding that her uncle’s wife, Coretta Scott, was pro-choice.

Sanger coined the term “birth control” and established Planned Parenthood.

King also talked about her family’s legacy and its tragedies, including her uncle’s April 4, 1968, assassination in Memphis, Tenn., as well as the death of her father, the Rev. A.D. King, Martin Luther King Jr.’s younger brother who was found dead in his swimming pool.

In the 1980s, Alveda King joined the pro-life movement and often speaks at college campuses. She also is a crusader for offering women alternatives to abortion.

“Children are not only our future, but our now,” she said in her presentation Thursday.