Evidence of Planned Parenthood Targeting Minorities

In 2008, SFLA mobilized Black Pastors to call Planned Parenthood out on their racism.

See Dr. Lillie Epps’ Speech at the Press Conference and Find Out Why She is a “Mad, Black Woman”

Released: Thursday, April 24, 2008

A study was conducted by Students for Life of America on the background of Planned Parenthood’s founder, Margaret Sanger, and how her views continue to saturate the organization today, which has led to a process of targeting minorities for abortion services. Data was collected from various organizations including the Alan Guttmacher Institute, Planned Parenthood, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Main Findings

  • Planned Parenthood was founded by Margaret Sanger, a woman who had clear and forceful hatred towards minorities and her views continue to infiltrate the organization to this day.
  • African-Americans have a disproportionate number of abortions according to their population in the United States.
  • African-American women are 4.8 times as likely as non-Hispanic white women to have an abortion and the African-American population is the only population in the country that is in decline. (1)
  • Planned Parenthood faces criminal charges and other serious allegations across the nation yet last year they received $336 million in taxpayer dollars.

Racist Roots of Planned Parenthood

From the beginnings of Planned Parenthood to the way it operates today, it is clear that the organization believes that both moral and legal law does not apply to them. As an organization that claims to be supporting the freedom of women to choose, they also claim to be leading the “social justice movement.”

Its origins began in 1916 when Margaret Sanger began the American Birth Control League (later re-named Planned Parenthood Federation of America in 1942) with deep roots in her belief of eugenics. (2) Sanger’s campaign and social philosophy were aligned as she worked to target those that were seen as being “genetically unfit.” This social intervention took on the practices of selective breeding, sterilization and other ways for moderating the number of children born to those which society viewed in the 20th century as being “unfit.” Sanger stated in an article that “a stern and rigid policy of sterilization and segregation to that grade of population whose progeny is already tainted or whose inheritance is such that objectionable traits may be transmitted to offspring.” (3)

Sanger’s obsession with eugenics and racism was clearly presented in her involvement of planning the First World Population Conference which took place in Geneva in 1926. (4) She was not mentioned on the actual program, but instead worked behind the scenes and initiated the “Negro Project” in 1939. She stated, “We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population and the minister is the man who can straighten out the idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.” (5) The objective of the “project” was to infiltrate the black community by presenting birth control as a health option for women.

In a letter to Dr. Clarence Gamble Sanger stated, “We should hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities. The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We don’t want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population. And the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.” (6)

This hatred of mainly African-Americans which Sanger saw as “unfit” continues to influence the culture and the rise in numbers of abortions. According to the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), “despite the recent decline of pregnancy rates in the United States, young women of color continue to be disproportionately affected.” (7)

Contrary to the public’s belief that Planned Parenthood is helpful and supportive of family planning and the health of the mother and child, recent news and research show that the roots of its foundation have continued to give birth to continual hatred and disdain for minorities that its founder saw as “unfit.” In Sanger’s magazine entitled The Birth Control Review, editor Elmer Carter wrote an article, “Eugenics for the Negro” where he stated, “the race problem in America is infinitely aggravated by the presence of too many unhappy born, sub-normals, morons, and imbeciles of both races. Therefore, those fighting for birth control must take eugenics into consideration.” (8) The beliefs from the inception of this organization to its practices all link directly back to racism and hatred for people who are not viewed as equals when it comes to family and the value of life. As Sanger stated in 1922 her advice was, “The most merciful thing that a family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.” (9)

Planned Parenthood’s Racist Agenda in Action

African-Americans have a disproportionate number of abortions according to their population in the United States. African-Americans make up 17 percent of live births (10) and they are having 36 percent of abortions in the U.S (11). With this devastating number of abortions, the result is a 50 percent decrease in overall African-American population in the United States.

The Guttmacher Institute, the research arm of Planned Parenthood, reports that black women are 4.8 times as likely (12) as non-Hispanic white women to have an abortion, and Hispanic women are 2.7 times as likely. Could it be that Planned Parenthood is targeting minorities in these communities based upon the lifelong agenda of Margaret Sanger?

Recently Planned Parenthood was exposed in its hatred and racism toward minorities. Lila Rose, 19-year-old sophomore at UCLA and editor of The Advocate, exposed the truth about Planned Parenthood through legally recorded calls to facilities in seven states. Clinics in Ohio, Oklahoma, Idaho and New Mexico have all been captured on tape willfully accepting donations from a donor that designated the money be spent to abort a black child. Audio from the calls attest to the fact that Planned Parenthood has no problem taking money earmarked for a specific race. The below transcripts of the New Mexico and Ohio calls been provided by The Advocate. (13)

New Mexico:
Donor: Um, can I make the donation specifically for a minority group?
Planned Parenthood: Like a specific group, or color…or a group of…
Donor: Yeah, yeah, I mean like, I want the abortion to be to be for an African American baby?
Planned Parenthood: Okay.
Donor: …and I was wondering if that could be possible?
Planned Parenthood: The exact amount we charge right now is $450 for an abortion.
Donor: Okay, $450
Planned Parenthood: Mhm, and, um, we can definitely designate it for an African American.
Donor: Wonderful, Um
Planned Parenthood: Yeah

Ohio:
Donor: When I underwrite abortions, does that apply to minorities too?
Planned Parenthood: If you specifically wanted to underwrite an abortion for a minority person, you can target it that way. You can specify that is how you wanted it spent.
Donor: Ok, yeah, because there’s definitely way too many Black people in Ohio, so I’m just trying to do my part.
Planned Parenthood: Ok, whatever.
Donor: Well Blacks especially need abortions too, so that’s what I’m trying to do.
Planned Parenthood: Well, for whatever reason, we’ll accept the money.
Donor: Ok great, thank you.

Reverend Clenard H. Childress Jr., head of the LEARN (Life Education and Resource Network) project stated “every 3rd abortion in America is on Black women. It is the most common surgical procedure performed on Afro-American women.” (14)

Taxpayers, Integrity and Investigations

Across the country, Planned Parenthood is under scrutiny. They have been charged in Kansas (15) with performing illegal, late-term abortions and falsifying records. In the state of California a lawsuit alleges that taxpayers have been defrauded (16) out of $180 million. Also, an Ohio Planned Parenthood is being sued for failing to report the abortion to the parents of a 14-year-old girl (17) who was being abused by a coach.

By the above mentioned actions, it is clear that Planned Parenthood believes they are above the law. There is no respect for the law and more importantly for the very women that the organization claims to protect.

Conclusion

Until these allegations are reconciled and the truth is made clear by law Planned Parenthood’s funding should be halted. Planned Parenthood receives about half a billion dollars of taxpayer and government funding each year, even though they are under criminal investigation and have other serious allegations against them.

It is time that African-Americans and all minorities contact their local and state elected officials to protect them from the siege on their families. This issue is not a matter of siding with pro-life or pro-choice, it is an issue of blatant racism that continues to be rewarded by receiving increased funding each year by taxpayers and government budgets.

Presidential candidates need to speak up and protect the people who elected them and the people who elected them need to make sure the funding is frozen.

This battle is not something that one particular group or organization can take on by themselves. It requires the strength of organizations, government officials, voters, and those who have been impacted by Planned Parenthood to stand together and demand that the hate is not supported and instead that the funding of this cancerous organization are brought to a close. Hate must be held accountable.

(1) http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html

(2) http://www.plannedparenthood.org/issues-action/other/sanger-1916-9974.htm

(3) Margaret Sanger, “A Plan for Peace,” The Birth Control Review, April 1932, 107

(4) http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/timeline.demography.html

(5) http://www.ewtn.com/library/prolife/ppracism.txt

(6) Margaret Sanger’s December 19, 1939 letter to Dr. Clarence Gamble, 255 Adams Street, Milton, Massachusetts. Original source: Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, North Hampton, Massachusetts. Also described in Linda Gordon’s Woman’s Body, Woman’s Right: A Social History of Birth Control in America. New York: Grossman Publishers, 1976.

(7) http://www.siecus.org/pubs/fact/fact0010.html

(8) http://learninc.org/page/eugenics.php

(9) Margaret Sanger (editor). The Woman Rebel, Volume I, Number 1. Reprinted in Woman and the New Race. New York: Brentanos Publishers, 1922.

(10) http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss5212a1.htm#tab9

(11) http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss5212a1.htm#tab9

(12) http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html

(13) The Advocate – Lila Rose 2008

(14) http://blackgenocide.org/crisis.html

(15) http://sev.prnewswire.com/health-care-hospitals/20080328/DC1795928032008-1.html

(16) http://www.christianexaminer.com/Articles/Articles%20Apr08/Art_Apr08_10.html

(17) http://www.lifenews.com/state3057.html

(18) http://www.plannedparenthood.org/files/AR_2007_vFinal.pdf