Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger & Racism

Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger & Racism

on July 11, 2016

“The most merciful thing that the large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.” –Margaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood Founder [1]


After the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strike down a Texas law calling for improved health and safety standards in abortion clinics (Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt), it is clearer the majority of our current justices have no intention of regulating abortions. The implications of the Court’s decision calls to mind the disturbing history of Planned Parenthood and is a reminder of why abortion matters to the Church.

We’ve all heard of Planned Parenthood and have heard numerous people, from celebrities to politicians, tell us how it is a women’s rights organization. They say we need it because it empowers women and gives us a choice. But is this really the truth?

Margaret Sanger founded the American Birth Control League, which later became known as Planned Parenthood, in 1921. Was Margaret Sanger’s true intention of founding this organization, what has become America’s number one abortion provider, to empower all women? The facts seem to show that Sanger’s intentions weren’t as pure as pro-choice advocates make it seem.

Sanger was a well-known eugenicist. Eugenics is a social movement and a belief that through selective breeding and sterilization you can improve the genetic features of the population. In a letter to Dr. Clarence Gamble in 1939, Sanger wrote:

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.

Sanger wrote this eighteen years after creating the American Birth Control League. It is pretty clear that Sanger held some strong beliefs, but did those beliefs trickle down into Planned Parenthoods?

Nearly 79 percent of Planned Parenthood clinics are in minority communities. In 2013, 29,007 black babies were aborted in New York City. In the same year 24,108 black babies were born. As many have noted, this means that 4,899 more black babies were aborted than born in New York City. Statewide, only 1,170 more babies were born than aborted. Three to four percent of the population is made up of non-Hispanic black women of childbearing age, yet they are responsible for one-third of all abortions.

Abortion is also the leading cause of death for black Americans in the United States. Liveaction.org conducted an experiment in which an actor called to speak with Planned Parenthood representatives. During this call, the actor said he wished to ensure his donation went to abortions for black women. Below is a transcript of one of the phone calls:

Idaho Donor: The abortion—I can give money specifically for a black baby, that would be the purpose?

PP Rep Autumn Kersey: Absolutely. If you wanted to designate that your gift be used to help an African-American woman in need, then we would certainly make sure that the gift was earmarked for that purpose.

Idaho Donor: Great, because I really faced trouble with affirmative action, and I don’t want my kids to be disadvantaged against black kids. I just had a baby; I want to put it in his name.

PP Rep: Yes, absolutely.

Idaho Donor: And we don’t, you know we just think, the less black kids out there the better.

PP Rep: Understandable, understandable.

Idaho Donor: Right. I want to protect my son, so he can get into college.

PP Rep: Alright. Excuse my hesitation, this is the first time I’ve had a donor call and make this kind of request, so I’m excited, and want to make sure I don’t leave anything out.

Multiple calls were made to clinics in other states along these lines, and in each one a Planned Parenthood representative accepted the money, and did not once express concern for the racist intentions behind the donations. The black race is the only minority race that is in decline. Abortion in the black community is making a sobering impact. At the current rate, the black vote in America will be insignificant by 2038.

As heartbreaking as all these statistics are, they tell a story we don’t see broadcasted in the mainstream media and oftentimes go unmentioned in our church communities. Personally, I have never heard a pastor speak about these facts in the two churches I have regularly attended.

Perhaps it is because we have become so consumed with political correctness and hurting people’s feelings that as Christians we don’t want to offend someone. Perhaps feeling uncomfortable is what is stopping some. Jesus did uncomfortable things all the time. He came to earth knowing he would die for sins He did not commit, and yet we let ourselves worry about being uncomfortable.

As a young Christian, I believe it is time for the Church not only to speak out and discuss the issue, but also discuss solutions. The Church has an opportunity to stand up and support expectant mothers and their precious babies by providing counseling and adoption services, and most importantly by sharing God’s love.

When considering the racial tensions we have recently seen, it makes you wonder why this subject has never been seen on a “breaking news” headline.


[1] Woman and the New Race, Chapter V (Sanger, 1920)

  1. Comment by MarcoPolo on July 15, 2016 at 10:32 am

    The author does a good job of raising some points worthy of discussion, but the autonomy of any pregnant woman must be honored over one’s concern for ideology.

    Suggesting that the late Margaret Sanger is somehow still controlling Planned Parenthood’s agenda, is like suggesting that the current NRA (National Rifle Association) is promulgating gun safety. Incongruent analogy and unsound reasoning.

    Organizations evolve, just as everything does, but denigrating a progressive group that actually HELPS people, is just wrong!

    The cliche’ proves true: If you don’t approve of abortion….don’t have one!

  2. Comment by John S. on July 16, 2016 at 6:27 pm

    Since the NRA does promote gun safety then you are agreeing that PP follows Sanger’s philosophy? And many organizations are controlled by a a founder’s vision long after death.

  3. Comment by MarcoPolo on July 16, 2016 at 8:33 pm

    Your logic makes no sense. So, NO, I’m not saying that!

    If you’ve noticed, the NRA has devolved from their original Mission Statement, which WAS gun safety, but is now only an over-bearing Lobby group.

    Planned Parenthood has also moved on by offering a variety of Health Care services. The idea of Eugenics being any part of their agenda is a stretch. Just ask the Director, Cecile Richards.

  4. Comment by muzjlk on July 17, 2016 at 9:43 am

    If you don’t approve of murder.. don’t murder anyone!
    That’s right, people should just mind their own business.

  5. Comment by Ino Yamanaka on July 15, 2016 at 10:42 am

    One thing that never gets mentioned in discussions of abortion: a six-month-old baby is a lot more work than a six-month fetus, as anyone who has given birth knows. Yet the pro-abortion herd makes a big deal about the fetus being dependent on its mother. Following their logic, a woman should be free to kill her one-year-old baby, because it requires a lot more care than the fetus in the womb.

  6. Comment by John S. on July 16, 2016 at 6:26 pm

    And this is actually proposed in many places. The age of cutoff varies, usually 1 year old tends to be the high end.

  7. Comment by MarcoPolo on July 17, 2016 at 12:23 pm

    Once a fetus develops to the point of emerging (Birthing), it then becomes a member of society, and our society has laws against murder.
    Prior to that, (with some States exceptions), “it” is solely the “property” of the woman who is gestating it.

    Why do people feel they have ANY right to dictate how a pregnant woman is to live?! Free Country = Free Choice!

  8. Comment by Chris on July 22, 2016 at 11:37 pm

    Does even a human “fetus” grow and develop up “to the point of emerging”? What should that indicate?

    If you said it means that it is living then you are correct. Thus to abort or destroy a living organism is to kill it- and that is called murder. Women here in the US and around the world may not be held accountable by their governments for this act of murder, but there is Another who holds them accountable still, their Creator and Maker, and ultimately they must answer to Him.

  9. Comment by MarcoPolo on July 23, 2016 at 10:09 am

    “Living” usually DOES mean growing/developing, but sustainability indicates something too. And in cases where the woman simply does NOT want to be pregnant, her options are available still, thankfully.

    And for those who follow (your) religion, they must comply with that religion’s view….others, not.

    Religion is personal, and should never be imposed.

  10. Comment by Mr. G. on July 23, 2016 at 12:01 pm

    No, it’s not called “murder” (except by the emotionally manipulative). A killing necessary to a person’s escape from involuntary servitude is called “justifiable homicide”.

  11. Comment by Mr. G. on July 23, 2016 at 11:59 am

    A fetus is entirely dependent on its host. A 6-month-old infant is dependent, but no longer requires its unique host.

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