What: “Maafa 21,” by abortion opponent Mark Crutcher. The film describes an alleged conspiracy to use legalized abortion to eliminate African-Americans.
When: 6:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 26; 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 27; and 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 28.
Where: Kiggins Theatre, /’1011 Main St., Vancouver.
On the Web: www.maafa21.com
A Vancouver physician has sponsored a free three-day showing of a controversial pro-life documentary alleging that abortion was legalized as a way to commit African-American genocide.
The 2009 film, “Maafa 21,” will show Oct. 26-28 at Kiggins Theatre, 1011 Main St., in downtown Vancouver.
What: "Maafa 21," by abortion opponent Mark Crutcher. The film describes an alleged conspiracy to use legalized abortion to eliminate African-Americans.
When: 6:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 26; 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 27; and 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 28.
Where: Kiggins Theatre, /'1011 Main St., Vancouver.
On the Web: <a href="http://www.maafa21.com">www.maafa21.com</a>
Jaime Nicacio, a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center, paid the corporate rate to rent the historic theater and show the film for free to the public for three days.
The 144-minute documentary was written and directed by pro-life activist Mark Crutcher, president of Life Dynamics Inc. in Denton, Texas. Crutcher, who is white, said he and two Life Dynamics employees spent three years researching the subject. “Maafa” is a Swahili word used to describe the period of American slavery.
In the film, Crutcher draws links between the end of slavery and a move toward Nazi-like eugenics, forced sterilization and birth control; then, the rise of the civil rights movement and, what he alleges, was a corresponding shift toward legalized abortion.
For instance, the film lays out Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger’s ties to the American Eugenics Society.
“I feel (black genocide) is the primary motivation for legalized abortion,” Crutcher said in an interview Thursday with The Columbian. “I can’t say in a country this big there is a single motivation, but it’s the primary motivation.”
The film tries to support its case with data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other primary sources. Black women have 40 percent of the country’s abortions, while blacks make up only 12 percent of the U.S. population, according to the CDC.
The film also claims there is a disproportionate amount of Planned Pregnancy clinics in predominantly black neighborhoods across the country, aimed at targeting blacks for abortions.
Liz Delapoer, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette, said the film “distorts the history of the reproductive rights movement” to “spread blatant lies about Planned Parenthood’s relationship with the black community.”
Delapoer said the reason for the inordinate amount of abortions among black women stems from lack of access to birth control and preventative care. Women who have access to birth control and preventative care are less likely to have an abortion, she said.
She said research refutes the film’s claim that abortion providers are concentrated in black neighborhoods.
A study by the Guttmacher Institute found that fewer than one in 10 abortion providers were in predominantly black neighborhoods in 2008, the most recent data available, according to a January 2011 advisory by the institute. The institute found that 9 percent of abortion providers were in neighborhoods where half or more of the residents were black, 12 percent were in predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods, 63 percent were in predominantly white neighborhoods, 1 percent were in neighborhoods where half or more of residents were “non-Hispanic other,” and 15 percent were in neighborhoods where no single racial group accounted for half or more of residents.
Nicacio, the physician who paid for the film to be shown at the Kiggins Theatre, said he found the documentary informative and wanted to share it with others.
“One of the things I appreciated about the film was it didn’t make assumptions; it gave you evidence you could look up yourself,” Nicacio said.
Dan Wyatt, Kiggins Theatre owner, said the film isn’t part of the theater’s regular programming. The theater business chooses much of its programming but also allows private rentals. It doesn’t screen content beforehand for private rentals, Wyatt said. He said he hasn’t seen “Maafa 21.”
“We don’t endorse or sponsor the material that people show in a rental situation,” Wyatt said.
Oregon Right to Life Education Foundation paid for a full-page ad about the event in today’s Weekend section of The Columbian.
