Spring Break
Planned Parenthood's dirty little secrets
Colleen Kopp
Issue date: 9/18/08 Section: Commentary
Planned Parenthood, an organization that claims to promote women's health and well-being, has a deeply stained history of racism, hatred and lies.
Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, summed up the purpose of her organization with this statement: "More children from the fit, less from the unfit."
It sounds like something out of Nazi Germany, like eugenics or creating a master race. Sanger founded the American Birth Control League in 1923, which later became the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. She was a passionate advocate for eugenics, a movement that essentially tried to wipe out any human being deemed genetically "unfit."
Another well-known fan of eugenics? Adolf Hitler.
In Sanger's autobiography, she wrote, "The eugenists wanted to shift the birth control emphasis from less children for the poor to more children for the rich. We went back to that and sought first to stop the multiplication of the unfit. This appeared the most important and greatest step towards race betterment."
She continued, "Birth control itself, often denounced as a violation of natural law, is nothing more or less than the facilitation of the processes of weeding out the unfit, of preventing the birth of defectives or of those who will become defectives."
Most of the people Sanger named "defectives" or "unfit" were minorities. One of her goals was to "exterminate the Negro population," a phrase she used in a documented letter to an associate while discussing the future of the organization. Sanger's words should send shivers down spines.
Although Sanger dedicated her life to providing birth control for the "unfit" of the nation, Planned Parenthood still hails their founder as "one of the movement's great heroes." People have not forgotten the horribly racist principles Planned Parenthood was founded on. An April, 2008 protest in Washington D.C. addressed the racism still found in Planned Parenthood today. Day Gardner, President of the National Black Pro-Life Union, said we "must wake up and stand up to this racist organization that purposefully plants abortion facilities firmly in black and minority neighborhoods and urban communities - sometimes, right next-door to schools."
Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, summed up the purpose of her organization with this statement: "More children from the fit, less from the unfit."
It sounds like something out of Nazi Germany, like eugenics or creating a master race. Sanger founded the American Birth Control League in 1923, which later became the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. She was a passionate advocate for eugenics, a movement that essentially tried to wipe out any human being deemed genetically "unfit."
Another well-known fan of eugenics? Adolf Hitler.
In Sanger's autobiography, she wrote, "The eugenists wanted to shift the birth control emphasis from less children for the poor to more children for the rich. We went back to that and sought first to stop the multiplication of the unfit. This appeared the most important and greatest step towards race betterment."
She continued, "Birth control itself, often denounced as a violation of natural law, is nothing more or less than the facilitation of the processes of weeding out the unfit, of preventing the birth of defectives or of those who will become defectives."
Most of the people Sanger named "defectives" or "unfit" were minorities. One of her goals was to "exterminate the Negro population," a phrase she used in a documented letter to an associate while discussing the future of the organization. Sanger's words should send shivers down spines.
Although Sanger dedicated her life to providing birth control for the "unfit" of the nation, Planned Parenthood still hails their founder as "one of the movement's great heroes." People have not forgotten the horribly racist principles Planned Parenthood was founded on. An April, 2008 protest in Washington D.C. addressed the racism still found in Planned Parenthood today. Day Gardner, President of the National Black Pro-Life Union, said we "must wake up and stand up to this racist organization that purposefully plants abortion facilities firmly in black and minority neighborhoods and urban communities - sometimes, right next-door to schools."
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 27
Ms Andry
posted 9/18/08 @ 7:59 AM EST
Hm. So by this reasoning, if we take you at your word that some of your premises - although unsupported explicitly here - are true, every citizen in the US is guilty of slavery and genocide and should be tried for murder, rape, kidnapping, assault, conspiracy to commit murder. (Continued…)
Eidur
posted 9/18/08 @ 8:19 AM EST
Since when did the Daily Campus turn into Fox News? It seems every commentary article is unapologetically from a conservative standpoint.
Laura
posted 9/18/08 @ 8:43 AM EST
There's actually been quite a bit of debate in some circles over whether Sanger personally held those beliefs. Naturally, she couldn't talk about her birth control clinics being good for "women's choice. (Continued…)
Veiled Agenda?
posted 9/18/08 @ 8:59 AM EST
It seems to me that the author is trying to use one individuals' racism to justify the abolition of a very important female right – the right to choose. (Continued…)
Oh Please!
posted 9/18/08 @ 9:47 AM EST
Planned Parenthood is worse than the Klu Klux Klan? Give me a break. I don't believe I've ever heard of a pregnant woman being dragged into a Planned Parenthood clinic for an abortion against her will. (Continued…)
sam
posted 9/18/08 @ 9:59 AM EST
It is still a good organization that provides info, testing, and resourced to women. It is especially important for lower SES people who may not have other alternatives to seek for their women's health. (Continued…)
Chelsea
posted 9/18/08 @ 10:02 AM EST
Nobody forces a woman to go into an abortion clinic, she chooses to. And the pro-lifers that protest outside of clinics are not always the "peaceful" bunch you make them out to be. (Continued…)
disgusted
posted 9/18/08 @ 10:06 AM EST
At first, the author takes a jab at the link between racism and planned parenthood . . . then the author ends the commentary with a marketing stint about an anti-choice demonstration. (Continued…)
Jon
posted 9/18/08 @ 10:31 AM EST
So, your logic would seem to invalidate the Declaration of Independence and US Constitution (the great majority of the Founders were unabashedly racist and sexist) and the Emancipation Proclamation (Lincoln was a racist). (Continued…)
Conservative
posted 9/18/08 @ 10:42 AM EST
the newspaper isn't biased. this is the commentary section. that means it is entirely composed of the OPINIONS of the people who write for it. if you don't like what's written, go and write for them yourself. (Continued…)
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