Anti-abortion advocates frequently claim that Black women have obtained approximately 20 million abortions since 1973. Although no complete national racial tally verifies that number, Black women are repeatedly blamed for the number of Black children who were never born.

That blame does not come only from outside the Black community. Black women are also condemned by Black men and other Black women, as though women created every pregnancy alone and made every abortion decision without pressure, abandonment, financial hardship, fear, or interference from the men involved.

So, America—and especially the Black community—let’s have the rest of this conversation.

If abortion had never existed and millions more Black children had been born, what would have happened next?

Would the Black community be stronger, wealthier, safer, and more prosperous? Would Black men have become more present and committed fathers? Would families and communities have provided housing, childcare, education, healthcare, protection, and financial support?

Or would Black women now be blamed for having “too many children,” choosing the wrong men, needing public assistance, raising children without fathers, and contributing to poverty and crime?

It is easy to mourn millions of hypothetical Black children while placing the entire responsibility for their conception, birth, upbringing, and survival on Black women.

This survey asks whether those additional children would genuinely have been supported—and who would have been responsible for helping them thrive after they were born.