Monica Sparks is a Democrat politician who is urging Michigan voters to reject Proposal 3 because “it is rooted in genocide, racism and eugenics.”
“Anytime you say that someone does not deserve to live because they're feeble, they're weak-minded individuals, what are you saying about the human rights? The last I checked, we all bleed red,” says Monica who has represented the Democratic Party on the Board of Commissioners of Kent County, Michigan, since 2018.
Monica is a local business owner as well as a politician, a wife and a mother. She started out in life, however, in the foster care system. At the age of eight, Monica and her twin sister were adopted by their father, the Reverend Alonzo Edward Sparks, a recipient of the Purple Heart in the Korean War, and their mother, Joyce Ann Sparks, a public-school teacher. It was this upbringing, says Monica, that shaped her view of abortion.
“I don't know where I would be without my forever family or my identical twin sister,” she says, “I just feel so blessed to have them and I know that based on them having us that life is precious, and they saved our life, and if we were worth saving then the vulnerable among us are worth saving as well.”
Proposal 3 attempts to insert a right to abortion up to birth into the Constitution of the State of Michigan. It was drafted by the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood.
Last year the President of Planned Parenthood, Alexis McGill-Johnson, publicly disavowed the organization’s foundress, Margaret Sanger (1879 – 1966), for her “association with white supremacist groups and eugenics,” stating in a New York Times op-ed that by “privileging whiteness, we’ve contributed to America harming Black women and other women of color.”
“Look at the whole history of abortion,” says Monica Sparks, “We're looking at eugenics, we're looking at genocide.”
“I believe they put a big blanket over it and say ‘abortion is healthcare’ but, the last I checked, healthcare does not end life, healthcare helps to continue life and we need real healthcare, real solutions, real changes, so that the African American community can be empowered and we’re not empowered right now and this [Proposal 3] is not one empower us anymore.”
Monica says she is “a proud Democrat” and suggests that as many as 1-in-3 Democrat voters across the United States are also pro-life. She is also aware, however, that her stance on abortion may provoke a backlash amongst some within her party including those in senior positions.
“I'm running unopposed this term but next term? They could be coming me for me and, you know what, it's okay because I'm speaking the truth. The truth is what matters to me. I'm absolutely happy to be serving as a servant leader in my role as a county commissioner but I'm happier when I can be me to speak the truth.”
* To know more about Democrats for Life go to: https://www.democratsforlife.org/