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As a Black woman who works to expand reproductive rights and justice every day, I feel personally incensed by Baltimore Ravens鈥� Ben Watson鈥檚 was created to exterminate Blacks. The 鈥減lan,鈥� Watson claims, 鈥渋s working.鈥�

This is a playing field he shouldn鈥檛 step on.

Planned Parenthood is of primary care for families across the country 鈥攑roviding reproductive health care services, including abortion. Without their services, the constitutionally protected right to an abortion for women in some states would be just a notion.

Watson criticizes Planned Parenthood by erroneously equating the reproductive health organization that we know today, with the family planning clinic that Margaret Sanger created over 100 years ago. Think about it鈥� what did the rest of the country look like a full century ago?

One of the original NFL teams, the , debuted in 1913. They did not all wear helmets. The team was made up of a hodgepodge of employees from three local factories. The team was .

Unlike the NFL, Margaret Sanger was a progressive for her time. Her birth control movement got support in Black neighborhoods, as many saw birth control as a key to self-determination. 鈥淭he Negro race has reached a place in its history when every possible effort should be made to have every Negro child count as a valuable contribution to the future of America," . 鈥淣egro parents, like all parents, must create the next generation from strength, not from weakness; from health, not from despair.鈥�

That said, Margaret Sanger was far from perfect. She embraced the prominent science of the time, , which thankfully has been widely debunked now. While timing does not excuse, nor justify, her complicated feelings 鈥� we can understand how Sanger came to believe those things and still champion her belief in reproductive freedom and women鈥檚 full equality.

Watson goes on to posit that abortion is 鈥減ushed鈥� on minority communities. I take offense to the notion of 鈥減ushed,鈥� in part, because I don鈥檛 even know . But more importantly it is based on an assertion that Black women are not capable of making important decisions on their own. It presumes that if a woman decides to have an abortion, she was clearly 鈥減ushed鈥� into such a decision.

Let鈥檚 not follow Watson鈥檚 path of confusion by wrongly focusing on race 鈥� it is a . There are real reasons that inform many women鈥檚 decision to have an abortion. And we do not have to speculate to know why women have abortions.

We can ask them.

The women cite for having abortions are the inability to afford a child; the belief that having a baby would interfere with work, school, or the ability to care for dependents; and concern for or responsibility to other individuals. Many report that they did not want to be a single parent or were having problems with their husband or partner.

Women do not have abortions because the procedures are pushed on Black communities. Women have abortions because they weigh the myriad factors in their lives and decide an abortion is the right choice. For Black women, and many women of color, those factors are often quite complicated, including and options as well as and disparities. Far too many women feel the overwhelming effect of the . All of these factors together influence a women鈥檚 decision to raise children.

Obscuring facts to create an unfounded race-based claim distracts us from really working toward social justice: The radical notion that all women should be able to determine if and when to have children and to be able to raise the children they have.

Watson, an NFL football player who married his high school sweetheart, may not know these issues first hand. But as a tight end who is "," in this moment he could serve social justice a great favor by taking a much needed time out.