This is in response to “Whoopi’s Whopper.” She really outdid herself this time. We all know Whoopi Goldberg as a professional comedienne and her stock in trade is making outlandish remarks, but sometimes she gets serious and sometimes seriously wrong.

One of these occasions was Wednesday. I happened to catch a segment of Whoopi’s daily talk show, “The View” in which she maintained vehemently that there is no federal funding for abortion. Yet the fact is that Planned Parenthood, the nation’s leading abortion provider, received $363 million in the 2008-2009 year, which is the last annual report to be released. Planned Parenthood’s claim that government funds only go for mammograms, prenatal care and adoptions is ludicrous because these services are miniscule compared to the number of abortions performed at their clinics and these health care services are diminishing each year, while the number of abortions performed steadily increases.

What’s more, money is fungible. It stands to reason that if a facility receives support (in grants and contracts, as in this case) for one part of its services then money is freed up to spend on other services. You don’t keep the lights on in just one room.

What started Whoopi’s tirade was her outrage at a billboard which proclaimed “The most dangerous place for an African American is in the womb.”

Sorry, Whoopi. The fact is that abortion is the leading cause of death in the African American community. Since the passage of Roe vs Wade in 1973, legalizing abortion, all other leading causes of death (including heart disease, cancer, accidents, violent crimes and AIDS) account for approximately 5 million deaths whereas abortion has taken more than 14 million lives in the black community, almost three times as many. These figures are based on statistics provided by the U.S. Center for Disease Control.

While African American women represent only 13 percent of U.S. women of child bearing age, they account for more than one third of abortions in this country. Since 1973 abortion has wiped out more than 25 percent of the African American population.

These sad facts are by no means an indictment of these women. On the contrary African American women are overwhelmingly pro-life and stand strong for family values. Unfortunately they have been targeted by Planned Parenthood from its inception and they have been victims of the pro-abortion strategies of that organization. For more on this subject look up Margaret Sanger, the eugenicist who founded Planned Parenthood and her motives for doing it.

My wish is that Whoopi Goldberg would do her homework, get the facts straight and use her considerable influence to help people of her race have a better life for themselves and a future for their children.

Virginia O’Beirne

Natchez resident