February is Black History Month. And for black pro-life advocates, it’s a month of renewed vigor. Why? Because we know that abortion is history repeating itself, that the racist madwoman who founded Planned Parenthood is getting exactly what she wanted, and that this is a fight for our lives and our dignity.

Abortion and the Black Community

Abortion has always disproportionately affected minority communities. Most abortion facilities are built in poor/minority neighborhoods and advertising is heavily directed at us. Black women have the highest abortion rate by far (nearly half of pregnancies end in abortion in many places). Our abortion ratio is 401 abortions per 1,000 live births. In some cities, like New York, more babies are aborted than born.

The pro-life movement, especially our African American leaders, must continue to reach out to our communities who are so targeted by the abortion industry. Women need to know there’s love and support when facing an unplanned pregnancy, regardless of income, marital status, or any other external factor.

America itself has been below replacement rate (not enough babies born to maintain the population) since 1971. And African Americans are a microcosm of that trend as our population dips below replacement rate in many cities. A society that tells its poor citizens that they should kill their offspring at their own expense (physically & psychologically) is a hurting society.

Margaret Sanger

The founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger, is seen as the pioneer of the birth control movement. She also deemed a large segment of the world’s population to be inferior. You can read about it in her own words in her book “The Pivot of Civilization.”

Among many other unsavory accomplishments, Sanger oversaw “The Negro Project,” a calculated strategy to exterminate African-Americans using birth control & abortion. The following is a letter she wrote to friend and supporter Dr. C.J. Gamble in 1939:

In one single typewritten letter, her entire strategy is revealed. Employ African-American doctors to manipulate black patients into “choosing” their own population decimation. But, just to be safe, get black church leaders on the payroll as well to take care of anyone who catches on. “We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population...”

Read the full letter here. 

Oh, but don’t bother looking into Margaret Sanger and Planned Parenthood’s history unless you have ample time. Pro-choice “fact-checkers” and news outlets who do not want their perception of Planned Parenthood challenged have gone to great lengths to inundate web results with defenses of Margaret Sanger. One such outlet, Snopes.com, wrote an article defending Sanger from claims of racism, yet used this quote in their article:

“Birth Control is not contraception indiscriminately and thoughtlessly practiced. It means the release and cultivation of the better racial elements in our society, and the gradual suppression, elimination and eventual extirpation of defective stocks — those human weeds which threaten the blooming of the finest flowers of American civilization.”

In simpler terms: “birth control” is not just using a condom when you don’t want to get pregnant. It’s strategically selling it to specific groups of people who are deemed “human weeds.”

For context, this is the type of depravity going on during the same decade the Sanger letter was written:

This was part of a scholarly journal published in 1933.

We Have to Do Better

If the entire African-American community knew the truth about Planned Parenthood’s past (and present, for that matter), there would be an outcry. Yet still, the abortion giant is hailed as a savior while ensuring the Black Community shrinks more and more every year. Just this month, the site Charity Navigator made a Black History Month post, pointing people towards organizations deserving of support due to their assistance of black people. On it is Planned Parenthood Great Plains. Margaret Sanger would be proud.

There is Hope

There is so much work to be done. But it IS happening.

Just a few months ago, in December 2019, America’s largest Pentecostal denomination issued a resolution about the dignity of life. The Church of God in Christ, which is predominantly African-American and has over 5 million members in the United States, issued a strong statement in which they condemned abortion as “genocide” and the “killing of the innocent.”

Independent black pro-life organizations, like the Sisters for Life in Louisville, KY, take the pro-life movie Maafa 21 to black churches – often changing the minds of over HALF of congregants. In true grassroots fashion, these special organizations are changing the culture.

Want to be a Part of the Change?

Students for Life has already started a campus group at an HBCU. But we need so many more! Please reach out to me, Elizabeth Parker, as I serve as the Minority Outreach Coordinator for SFLA. Email me at [email protected].