Planned Parenthood: Black Genocide or Legitimate Solution?

Is Planned Parenthood really Black Genocide?

By: Amanda Anderson

Before I indulge myself completely into this particular topic, let me make a couple things very clear. This article is in no way shape or form my argument to support a “pro choice” or “pro life” agenda. You see, if I really wanted to pick a political theory to defend and argue for regarding abortion, I would have made this a political article. So this should demonstrate that I am not giving you politics, but I am giving you facts that I honestly feel that every black woman should know. The facts that I give you may disgust you, make you angry, or make you think about things in ways you never imagined prior to reading this; and honestly, that is the sole purpose of this article. So with that out of the way, let’s move past the left and right wings, and talk about a serious issue for the black community. I hope you have an open mind.

We are all familiar with the Planned Parenthood movement. All across the country, there are Planned Parenthood centers that offer a variety of services that focus on preventing pregnancies.

At these centers, women have access to several forms of birth control. In most states, teenagers can get a form of birth control in total anomysosity. Women across the world and of all racial backgrounds are using forms of birth control in extremely high numbers.

In addition to birth control, most of these centers offer abortions to women who have opted to terminate their pregnancies.

The founder of the Planned Parenthood Movement is the very controversial Margaret Sanger. Sanger claimed that her inspiration behind creating the movement was after watching her mother die from child birth. She believed that women should not be forced to bare children and place their lives at risk if it is not in their best interests. While the world may be familiar with the motive, behind closed doors, Sanger had a completely different agenda for preventing child birth.

So what was the main reason that Sanger would involve herself so greatly in such a movement besides losing her mother? Her intense disgust and hate for the black race, poor, and the mentally challenged.

In Sanger’s own (hate filled) words:

“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.”
— 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.

“As an advocate of birth control I wish … to point out that the
unbalance between the birth rate of the ‘unfit’ and the ‘fit,’ admittedly
the greatest present menace to civilization, can never be rectified by the
inauguration of a cradle competition between these two classes. In this
matter, the example of the inferior classes, the fertility of the feebleminded,
the mentally defective, the poverty-stricken classes, should not be
held up for emulation.”

“On the contrary, the most urgent problem today is how to limit and
discourage the over-fertility of the mentally and physically defective.”
— Margaret Sanger. “The Eugenic Value of Birth Control Propaganda.”
Birth Control Review , October 1921, page 5.
“Give dysgenic groups [people with ‘bad genes’] in our population
their choice of segregation or [compulsory] sterilization.”
— Margaret Sanger, April 1932 Birth Control Review .

Now, you might say that the abortion movement is all about a woman’s right to choose, but according to the founder, it had very little to do with choice. To Sanger, the real purpose of abortion is to end the entire black race.

And recently, studies have shown that black women are having abortions at rates higher than any other racial group. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, black women make up about 37% of abortions.

And recently, black women have become the target of the Right Wing conservatives, as we are being labeled as a race that no longer values the life of unborn babies.

Recently in the state of GA, a controversial billboard was placed that attacked the black community for the high abortion rates.

So if the statistics are right, could Sanger have accomplished her objectives? Or are we just being targeted by the Republicans and media unfairly?

While we may not be able to agree with whether or not the numbers add up, there is one question that everyone should be asking:

When did abortions become a form of birth control in this country?

And this question isn’t limited to black women, but women of every race. There are so many ways to prevent pregnancy, why wouldn’t any woman use these methods if she isn’t willing to have a child?

Think about it. There are male and female condoms, birth control shots, pills, and rings. There is even a morning after pill for women who may have had accidents that involved the failure of birth control method, such as the breaking of a condom. And for those who want 100% prevention, there is celibacy. Celibacy never fails.

So if that’s the case, why aren’t some women taking the necessary steps to prevent unwanted pregnancies?

While some say that it is because these women don’t have access to good health care, these Planned Parenthood centers offer these services at affordable rates. As women, we have to take care of our bodies and most importantly take responsibility for reproductive choices. Let’s stop arguing over the validity of statistics, and take the necessary steps to prevent unwanted pregnancies.