Geto Boys Wave Anti-Abortion Flag With ‘The Unseen’

The Geto Boys’ song “The Unseen” is a fiercely anti-abortion statement--and pro-abortion rights advocates are steamed.

Sample lines from the song by the Houston rap group that has been frequently attacked by conservative organizations as excessively violent and degrading to women:

You hoes will get the guillotine

If I was a judge

For one of you bitches killing off the unseen

What. . .is this protesting?

Legalizing killing babies. . . with no question

“The record industry won’t do a pro-choice benefit album, but degradation of women and gays and lesbians is prolific,” says Rebecca Wickliff, president of the San Fernando Valley/Northeast Los Angeles chapter of the National Organization for Women that covers much of Los Angeles. She was referring to the recent inability of backers of a pro-abortion rights album to get major-label distribution.

“If you’re going to (have opinions) in songs, let’s have some balance,” she adds.

Geto Boys member Big Mike scoffs at the criticism.

“People always talk about freedom of speech, but the minute you say something that upsets someone they want to throw it out the door,” Big Mike says.

But the Houston rapper acknowledges there is even division in the group over the anti-abortion song, which he sees as a call for responsible sexual activity. He, in fact, supports abortion rights in the case of rape. Others in the group, however, are more hard-line against abortion, he says.

James Smith, president of the Geto Boys’ Rap-a-Lot Records company, is in the latter category.

“As far as I’m concerned, people that specialize in murdering people are a bunch of devils,” he says, in a statement in response to the NOW remarks.

Wickliff is not calling for a boycott of the Geto Boys song, which is on the new best-of album “Uncut Dope,” but vows to begin a campaign to urge sympathetic recording artists to become more active in behalf of pro-abortion rights activities.

Caught in the middle is Phyllis Pollack, a Los Angeles-based independent publicist and free-speech advocate who has the Geto Boys as a client. Pollack has long been a crusader for numerous liberal causes, including abortion rights. Pollack admits to having had some qualms about promoting a record so opposed to her own views.

“I’m pro-choice about abortion,” she says. “But I’m also pro-choice about lyrics. I don’t believe lyrics affect people’s behavior. I don’t believe Ice-T’s ‘Cop Killer’ makes people kill cops, and I can’t even picture someone getting pregnant and then deciding not to get an abortion because they hear a Geto Boys song.”

And how does an anti-abortion group feel about being suddenly aligned with the notorious Geto boys?

“We’re always excited when somebody speaks out for life,” says Bob DeMoss, youth culture specialist for the Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family organization. But he believes that considering such past Geto Boys songs as “Mind of a Lunatic”--a slasher-movie-style tale that includes graphic descriptions of dismemberment and necrophilia--”The Unseen” sends out a “mixed message.”

“They say they support life in the womb,” DeMoss says. “But you should treat those who are out of the womb with the same respect.”