History / Margaret Sanger
Latest News...
President says "We're Done
Making Excuses for Our Founder."
April 17, 2021. New York. In a very revealing
New York Times Opinion article, Alexis McGill
Johnson, the president and chief executive of
the Planned Parenthood Federation of America
(PPFA), recently (April 17th) acknowledged for
the first time that her organization "has failed to
own up to the impact of our founder's actions," saying this was something that the PPFA "tried to avoid" in the past, but "no longer can." She was referring to Margaret Sanger, who founded the PPFA in 194333. The "actions" that Johnson was referring to was Sangers association with white supremacist groups and eugenics.
"Her article was part "PR piece" and long overdue," according to Michael Smith, researcher for PlannedParenthoodReview.com. The article was something that PPFA had to do in today's racially conscious society, at the risk of remaining quiet and suffering even more severe criticism for not saying anything down the road. The article was an attempt,
"Her article was a "PR piece" and long overdue," according to Michael Smith, researcher for PlannedParenthoodReview.com. The article was something that PPFA had to do in today's racially conscious society, at the risk of remaining quiet and suffering even more severe critisism for not saying anything down the road. The article was an attempt, according to Smith, to acknowledge what many have already known, but at the same time, trying to provide some cover to Sanger's legacy (and to PPFA as well).
In her article, Johnson noted that Sanger worked alongside "W.E.B. Dubois and other Black freedom fighters. But the facts are complicated" she said. Really?
We are grateful that Johnson acknowledged some of the following efforts of Margaret Sanger in her article. Those include:
1. Sanger did speak to the women's auxiliary of the Ku Klux Klan at a rally in New Jersey. (Note: By the way, there is a fake "photo-shopped" image that is circulating in 'pro-life" circles that shows Sanger speaking to a group of hooded Klan members - but Sanger did accept and speak to the KKK group.
2. Sanger endorsed the Supreme Court's 1927 Buck v. Bell decision that allowed states to sterilize people deemed "unfit" without their consent and sometimes without their knowledge. This ruling lead to the streilization of tens of thousands of people in the 20th century.
Note: A new film currently showing (April 17 - May 15th) at the Indy Film Fest in AREA/CITY., says that these abuses have continued as late as 2013 and that they may still be continuing today, particularily at the PRISION NAME in california. he film ed in 2020 state that ...... (see "New Film Modern Day Eugenic" article below. As we approach the ... 100-year anniversary of this infamous 1927 Supreme Court Case - Buck v. Bell, which upheld a statute instituting compulsory sterilization of the unfit "for the protection and health of the state," and set a precedent for states to legally sterilize people in prisons. While state, federal and international law explicitly ban compulsory sterilization, this decision has yet to be overturned.
3. The first human trials of the birth control pill were conducted with Sanger's backing in Puerto Rico, where as many as 1,500 women were not told that the drug was experimental or that they might experience dangerous side effects.
"Just as Sanger was indifferent to the lives of thousands of young women harmed by her radical efforts to promote birth control in the past, PPFA today is indifferent to the lives of millions of living, yet unborn, human beings that were "terminated" by PPFA's radical efforts to promote unrestricted abortion and to label it "health care."
One thing Johnson failed to mention in her article was that Sanger herself did not, at least in the earlier years, approve of abortion. Mentioning something like that would not be good "PR" for PPFA, which is the leading provider of abortion in the country. The truth is that not only did Sanger disapprove of abortion, but in the earlier years, PPFA itself officially denounced abortion.
In numerous versions of PPFA's own publication, "Plan Your Children for Health and Happiness," they stated that "Abortion kills a human life and that it is bad for your health." You can read more about that here, but for now lets get back to Johnson's article.
Alexis McGill Johnson, PPFA President
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas speaks about Margaret Sanger's Promotion of Eugenics and PPFA.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is not the kind of man known to mince words. And, in a concurring opinion in an abortion case where Planned Parenthood was a litigant, he took a hammer to the organization and its eugenicist history.
The decision in Box v. Planned Parenthood, handed down Tuesday, was a mixed bag for pro-life advocates.
On the one hand, the Court upheld the part of an Indiana law signed during Mike Pence’s tenure as governor which, according to the state’s summary of the provision, said the remains of an aborted child were “nothing less than the remains of a partially gestated fetus and should be treated with the same dignity.”
“Passed after the discovery that a medical-waste firm had been accepting and disposing of fetal tissue, the law requires fetal remains to be either buried or cremated,” SCOTUSBlognoted.
On the other hand, the Court declined to weigh in on a second part of the law which had been blocked by a district court and then the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. That part of the legislation banned selective abortions based on sex, race or disability.
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However, Thomas wasn’t going to let that point just slide.
In a 20-page concurrence, he said that “[e]nshrining a constitutional right to an abortion based solely on the race, sex, or disability of an unborn child, as Planned Parenthood advocates, would constitutionalize the views of the 20th-century eugenics movement.”
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“Each of the immutable characteristics protected by this law can be known relatively early in a pregnancy, and the law prevents them from becoming the sole criterion for deciding whether the child will live or die,” Thomas wrote.
“Put differently, this law and other laws like it promote a State’s compelling interest in preventing abortion from becoming a tool of modern-day eugenics,” he added.
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“The use of abortion to achieve eugenic goals is not merely hypothetical. The foundations for legalizing abortion in America were laid during the early 20th-century birth-control movement. That movement developed alongside the American eugenics movement. And significantly, Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger recognized the eugenic potential of her cause. She emphasized and embraced the notion that birth control ‘opens the way to the eugenist.’”
If that already sounds like he was putting the fear of God into Planned Parenthood, uh, strap yourself in.
We’re just getting to the good parts.
While he noted that Sanger focused her efforts on birth control as opposed to “more ‘extreme’ ways for ‘women to limit their families,’ such as ‘the horrors of abortion and infanticide,'” Thomas went on to note that “Sanger’s arguments about the eugenic value of birth control in securing ‘the elimination of the unfit’ … apply with even greater force to abortion, making it significantly more effective as a tool of eugenics.”
“Whereas Sanger believed that birth control could prevent ‘unfit’ people from reproducing, abortion can prevent them from being born in the first place. Many eugenicists therefore supported legalizing abortion, and abortion advocates — including future Planned Parenthood President Alan Guttmacher — endorsed the use of abortion for eugenic reasons. Technological advances have only heightened the eugenic potential for abortion, as abortion can now be used to eliminate children with unwanted characteristics, such as a particular sex or disability.”
“Given the potential for abortion to become a tool of eugenic manipulation, the Court will soon need to confront the constitutionality of laws like Indiana’s,” Thomas continued.
“But because further percolation may assist our review of this issue of first impression, I join the Court in declining to take up the issue now.”
However, he noted that Box v. Planned Parenthood “highlights the fact that abortion is an act rife with the potential for eugenic manipulation. From the beginning, birth control and abortion were promoted as means of effectuating eugenics. Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger was particularly open about the fact that birth control could be used for eugenic purposes. These arguments about the eugenic potential for birth control apply with even greater force to abortion, which can be used to target specific children with unwanted characteristics.”
“Like many elites of her day, Sanger accepted that eugenics was ‘the most adequate and thorough avenue to the solution of racial, political and social problems,'” the concurrence continued.
“She agreed with eugenicists that ‘the unbalance between the birth rate of the “unfit” and the “fit'” was ‘the greatest present menace to civilization.’ … Particularly ‘in a democracy like that of the United States,’ where ‘[e]quality of political power has . . . been bestowed upon the lowest elements of our population.'”
Sanger, Thomas said, “worried that ‘reckless spawning carries with it the seeds of destruction.'”
Thomas also noted the zeal with which Sanger promoted Planned Parenthood’s services in the African-American community and the legacy it’s left behind — which is still a eugenicist one.
“Today, notwithstanding Sanger’s views on abortion, respondent Planned Parenthood promotes both birth control and abortion as ‘reproductive health services’ that can be used for family planning,” Thomas wrote.
“And with today’s prenatal screening tests and other technologies, abortion can easily be used to eliminate children with unwanted characteristics. Indeed, the individualized nature of abortion gives it even more eugenic potential than birth control, which simply reduces the chance of conceiving any child. As petitioners and several amicus curiae briefs point out, moreover, abortion has proved to be a disturbingly effective tool for implementing the discriminatory preferences that undergird eugenics.”
“In Iceland, the abortion rate for children diagnosed with Down syndrome in utero approaches 100%,” he noted.
“In Asia, widespread sex-selective abortions have led to as many as 160 million ‘missing’ women — more than the entire female population of the United States.”
(add Chart H8 here ???)
None of this is particularly new for those who are familiar with Planned Parenthood, their history or their tactics, not to mention the tactics of the entire grisly abortion industry. What is new is seeing it in this sort of detail in a Supreme Court opinion.
Thomas, along with the rest of the Court, wasn’t willing to confront the constitutionality of that part of the law.
But that didn’t mean he wasn’t willing to confront Planned Parenthood itself. His concurrence could very well have repercussions beyond just a brutalizing of the organization and its motives — at least, one definitely hopes it will.
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Related article...
Recent Film Exposes Modern Day Eugenics carried out as late as 2013 and possibly continuing today in California prisions.
Director Erika Cohn’s new film, Belly of the Beast,
part of the current 2021 Indy Film Fest, brings to
light the undeniable and continued legacy of
eugenics and forced sterilization in the state of
California.
The film, "Belly of the Beast" exposes
A courageous young woman who was involuntarily sterilized at the age of 24 while incarcerated at the facility, teams up with a radical lawyer to stop these violations. They spearhead investigations that uncover a series of statewide crimes, primarily targeting women of color, from inadequate access to healthcare to sexual assault to illegal sterilization. Together, with a team of tenacious heroines, both in and out of prison, they take to the courtroom to fight for reparations. But no one believes them. As additional damning evidence is uncovered by the Center for Investigative Reporting, a media frenzy and series of hearings provide hope for some semblance of justice. Yet, doctors and prison officials contend that the procedures were in each person’s best interest and of an overall social benefit.
link: https://2021.indyfilmfest.org/films/60765122b67a36006a672c9e
Central California Women’s Facility, the world’s largest women’s prison, help conceal the reproductive and human rights violations transpiring inside its walls.
What is of particular interest is that the film deals with modern day eugenics still happening in California today.
B A C K G R O U N D Throughout our own investigative reporting process in addition to chronicling Corey Johnson’s work via CIR, we wondered how prevalent the illegal sterilizations were and if it was happening in other states. We calculated from California State audit and prison records nearly 1,400 sterilization procedures occurred between 1997-2013. Since 2014, California is required to report the number of sterilizations performed each year in women's prisons and prove medical necessity around each procedure. Our team sent FOIA requests to dozens of states across the country and discovered that only 6 states have banned sterilizations, 5 states allow for medically necessary sterilizations, 3 states still allow sterilization procedures and all other states either did not respond to our requests, declined to provide information or stated they have no policies relevant to our request. In speaking with other organizations across the nation who work with people in women’s prisons, we know the sterilization abuse is happening, yet we do not know to what degree. We are coming up on the 100-year anniversary of the infamous 1927 Supreme Court Case - Buck v. Bell, which upheld a statute instituting compulsory sterilization of the unfit "for the protection and health of the state," and set a precedent for states to legally sterilize people in prisons. While state, federal and international law explicitly ban compulsory sterilization, this decision has yet to be overturned.
Background...
How it all began for Planned Parenthood Federation of America
It began back in 1952 when the "Birth Control Federation of America" started operations in New York City, New York. At the time, their goal was to promote birth control. The organization was founded by Margaret Sanger.
Sanger (born Margaret Louise Higgins, September 14, 1879 – September 6, 1966, also known as Margaret Sanger Slee) was an
American birth control activist, sex educator, writer,
and nurse.
Sanger popularized the term "birth control," opened
the first birth control clinic in the United States, and
established organizations that evolved into the
Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Sanger used her writings and speeches primarily to promote her way of thinking. She was prosecuted for her book Family Limitation under the Comstock Act in 1914. She was afraid of what would happen, so she fled to Britain until she knew it was safe to return to the US. Sanger's efforts contributed to several judicial cases that helped legalize contraception in the United States. Due to her connection with Planned Parenthood, Sanger is a frequent target of criticism by "pro-life" advocates. However, Sanger drew a sharp distinction between birth control and abortion and was opposed to abortion through the bulk of her career.
What many people may be shocked to learn is that the founder of PPFA, Margaret Sanger, who is recognized as a founder of the so-called "Reproductive Rights" movement in America, actually opposed abortion most of her career, and only supported limited abortion access later in life.
But there are a few deeply troubling skeletons in Margaret Sanger's closet, that for the most part, the media seems to have ignored. Is it likely because the Media believes that speaking poorly about Sanger, who most would say "pioneered" birth control and "reproductive rights" in America, could actually hurt the "cause" for abortion rights in America today?
Sanger's "skeletons" include her belief that men and women of color were inferior, and she made this publically know in her writings and speeches. Sanger was also invited and spoke about her distain for African American people to at least one Klu Klux Klan organization. (Note: there is a graphic currently disseminated on the Internet that shows Margaret Sanger speaking to a group of Klu Klux Klan members, which we believe a reporter has accurately determined is a bogus "photo-shopped" graphic but the important thing to remember is that Sanger did accept and speak at least on one occasion, to a KKK group.
Sanger also professed an "elite" belief in eugenics that targeted other human beings, that also included men and women of color, who she described as "human weeds." As well, she associated herself with others she had on the board of her Birth Control League who also had and professed radical extreme views on eugenics.
History and more research will likely result in learning much more of the far-reaching impact many believe her views had on others of influence around the world, including a few news sources that brings up the possibility that Adolf Hilter himself was influenced by Sanger's eugenics views.
During the early years of PPFA, the goal was to promote birth-control. What is rarely talked about, is that in an effort to make the distinction between birth-control
and abortion, the PPFA published in 1963 at least three different versions of a publication called. "Plan Your Children For Health and Happiness" in which PPFA states that abortion "...kills the life of a baby after it has begun." (Note: you can see this actual publication at our "Abortion" page).)
During these early years, the goal of PPFA was to promote birth-control. What is rarely talked about, is that in an effort to make the distinction between birth-control
and abortion, the PPFA published in
1963 at least three different versions
of a publication called. "Plan Your
Children For Health and Happiness"
in which PPFA accurately acknowledges
that abortion "...kills the life of a
baby after it has begun."
Note: In an 1976 news interview with Faye Wattleton, then President of PPFA, and Henry Hyde, a congressman from Illinois, Hyde asked Wattelton that "in light of the previous PPFA publication that states that abortion kills a human being, what new medical discovories have taken place since then to contradict that statement, (why was the PPFA so active in promoting abortion?" ) and he noted that the subject was changed so fast that his head was still spinning (years later).
In 1916, Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, which led to her arrest for distributing information on contraception, after an undercover policewoman bought a copy of her pamphlet on family planning.[7] Her subsequent trial and appeal generated controversy. Sanger felt that in order for women to have a more equal footing in society and to lead healthier lives, they needed to be able to determine when to bear children. She also wanted to prevent so-called back-alley abortions,[8] which were common at the time because abortions were illegal in the United States.[9] She believed that while abortion was sometimes justified, it should generally be avoided, and she considered contraception the only practical way to avoid them.[10]
In 1921, Sanger founded the American Birth Control League, which later became the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. In New York City, she organized the first birth control clinic staffed by all-female doctors, as well as a clinic in Harlem with an all African-American advisory council,[11] where African-American staff were later added.[12] In 1929, she formed the National Committee on Federal Legislation for Birth Control, which served as the focal point of her lobbying efforts to legalize contraception in the United States. From 1952 to 1959, Sanger served as president of the International Planned Parenthood Federation. She died in 1966, and is widely regarded as a founder of the modern birth control movement.[4]
Sanger remains an admired figure in the American reproductive rights movement.[5] She has been criticized for supporting negative eugenics.[6]
Wikepedia link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Sanger
include:
a. Margaret Sanger's efforts
b. Her speeches to the KKK
c. The flyer they put out saying abortion kills a life after it has begun (talk about and refer them to the "abortion" page, but don't show the actual flyer here).
d. show many of the comments Sanger is attibuted to saying (but be careful)
e.
History of PPFA and Margaret Sanger:
What many people may be shocked to learn is that the founder of PPFA, Margaret Sanger, who is recognized as a founder of the so-called "Reproductive Rights" movement in America, actually opposed abortion most of her career, and only supported limited abortion access later in life. But there are a few deeply troubling skeletons in Margaret Sanger's closet, that for the most part, the media seems to have ignored. Is it likely because the Media believes that speaking poorly about Sanger, who most would say "pioneered" birth control and "reproductive rights" in America, could actually hurt the "cause" for abortion rights in America today?
GGGGGGGGGG
Sanger's "skeletons" include her belief that men and women of color were inferior, and she made this publically know in her writings and speeches. Sanger was also invited and spoke about her distain for African American people to Klu Klux Klan organizations earlier in her career.
GGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
Sanger also professed an elite belief in eugenics that targeted other human beings (that also included men and women of color), who she considered "human weeds." As well, she associated herself with others she had on the board of her Birth Control League who also had and professed radical extreme views on eugenics. History and more research will likely result in learning much more of the far-reaching impact many believe hers views had on others of influence. The Margaret Sanger page goes more in-depth about all this.
MORE HISTORY from Brittanica
American Birth Control League (ABCL), organization that advocated for the legalization of contraception in the United States and promoted women’s reproductive rights and health from its creation in 1921 by Margaret Sanger, the founder of the American birth control movement. The first such organization in the United States, the American Birth Control League (ABCL) was a precursor of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, founded in 1942.
Sanger summarized the values of the ABCL in “Principles and Aims of the American Birth Control League,” which appeared as an appendix to her book The Pivot of Civilization (1922). There she asserted that a woman’s right to control her body is central to her human rights, that every woman should have the right to choose when or whether to have children, that every child should be wanted and loved, and that women are entitled to sexual pleasure and fulfillment. Accordingly, the ABCL would, among other activities, promote research on the relation of “reckless breeding” to infant mortality, juvenile delinquency, and other problems; provide instruction in “harmless and reliable” methods of birth control; educate the public regarding the “moral and scientific soundness” of birth control; lobby for the repeal of state and federal laws that impede the practice of birth control; establish branch organizations and birth control clinics in every U.S. state; and cooperate with similar organizations in other countries with the aim of alleviating international problems such as overpopulation, food shortages, and “national and racial conflicts.”
The ABCL also directed the activities of the Clinical Research Bureau, the first legal birth control clinic in the United States, which Sanger founded in 1923. In 1928 Sanger resigned her presidency (from 1921) of the ABCL and left the organization to assume full control of the clinic, which she dissociated from the ABCL and renamed the Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau.
The ABCL’s efforts produced a significant change in 1936 when an appellate court judge liberalized the Comstock Act as it applied in New York, Connecticut, and Vermont. The following year the American Medical Association (AMA) recognized birth control as an integral part of medical practice and education. In 1939 the ABCL rejoined the Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau to form the Birth Control Federation of America. The latter organization became the Planned Parenthood Federation of America in 1942.
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The official organ of the ABCL was The Birth Control Review, which Sanger founded in 1917 and edited until 1929. The journal ceased publication in 1940.
Theodora R. MosesThe Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
https://www.britannica.com/topic/American-Birth-Control-League
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