Contact:  Jerry Horn, Priests for Life, 540-220-0095

ATLANTA, August 15 /Christian Newswire/ -- Dr. Alveda King, Pastoral Associate of Priests for Life and the niece of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., today reacted to the release of new Department of Justice crime statistics showing African Americans to be the victims of nearly half of the murders committed in 2005.

"That 49 percent of all Americans murdered are black is shocking," said Dr. King.  "That 93 percent of those people are victims of black on black crime is not really surprising.  The abortion industry has told African Americans for decades that killing our own children is beneficial, even therapeutic.  We bought their lies and life in the inner city has become cheap."

"You want another shocking statistic?" asked Dr. King.  "Black women are now three times more likely to abort than white women.  Yes, 8,000 African Americans were murdered by guns and knives in 2005, but hundreds of thousands more were terminated by more socially acceptable weapons.  We have sown the wind of death in abortion clinics and reaped the whirlwind of violence in our streets."

"The killing has to stop," declared Dr. King.  "If we are to restore our communities and our families, respect for individuals has to begin when their lives begin, in the womb."

Priests for Life is the nation's largest Catholic pro-life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visit www.priestsforlife.org.