Losing our legacy ...

Margaret Sanger was a life-long advocate for increasing access to birth control. To promote this goal, she began publishing the magazine Birth Control Review in 1917, and founded the Birth Control League in 1922. That organization would later change its name to Planned Parenthood.

Some revisionist historians laud Margaret Sanger as a great social reformer and attribute to her only the best of motives. They want us to believe that Sanger promoted birth control because of her great compassion for women and for minorities who had limited access to contraception.

In truth, Margaret Sanger was an adamant proponent of eugenics. This so-called science postulates that some races are genetically superior and, hence, more fit for survival than others. According to eugenics, the overall fitness of humankind will be enhanced when people with good genes reproduce and people with bad genes don't. Eugenics is the twisted philosophy that drove Hitler and the Nazis to exterminate six (6) million Jews.

Margaret Sanger's writings are laced with her racist views. In her 1922 book, Pivot of Civilization, Sanger promoted birth control as the best means for improving the genetic stock of mankind. In this book, she specifically called for the segregation of "morons, misfits and the maladjusted" and for the sterilization of "genetically inferior races." Sanger described her utopian view of a master race:

"Let us conceive for the moment at least, a world not burdened by the weight of dependent and delinquent classes, a total population of mature, intelligent, critical and expressive men and women. Instead of the inert, exploitable, mentally passive class which now forms the barren substratum of our civilization, try to imagine a population of active, resistant, passing individual and social lives of the most contented and healthy sort."

In addition to her own writings, Sanger frequently featured articles in her magazine from other well know eugenicists and racists. For example, one article contributed by well-known Nazi supporter Lothrop Stoddard was entitled "The Rising Tide of Color Against White World Supremacy." Sanger also selected Lothrop Stoddard to serve on the board of her organization.

In 1939, Sanger and her organization launched the Negro Project. Through this project, Sanger sought to convert her philosophical views into social policy. The Negro Project was designed to build clinics in poor black communities so birth control would be made available to keep down the rising black population. To justify this initiative, Sanger explained, "the poorer areas, particularly in the South … are producing alarmingly more than their share of future generations." According to Sanger, birth control would "ease the financial load of caring for with public funds...children destined to become a burden to themselves, to their family, and ultimately to the nation."

Sadly, Sanger persuaded many prominent black leaders that this promotion of birth control in the black community was a sound policy. She shrewdly convinced men like D.W. Dubois and Dr. Clayton Powell that reducing the numbers of African Americans would cause the quality of life to rise for the remaining members of this community. Nevertheless, Sanger remained concerned that people in the African American community might learn about her real racist views. In a letter to a colleague, she confided that steps must be taken to keep these views from being known:

Today, Planned Parenthood openly rejects any adherence to the eugenic philosophies and racist views of Margaret Sanger. In fact, Planned Parenthood's website devotes an extensive discussion about Margaret Sanger trying to explain away what is characterized as these anti-choice myths and distortions.

But the legacy of Margaret Sanger lives on. The plain and tragic fact is that Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry are effectively carrying out the eugenic policies that Margaret Sanger initiated with the Negro Project nearly 65 years ago.

Consider these alarming facts:

• 94% of all abortion clinics in this country are located in metropolitan areas;
• Although Black America accounts for only 13% of our current population, nearly 36% of all abortions are performed on African Americans;
• Each day in America, over 1200 African American preborn babies are lost to abortion;
• In numerous cities across America, there are a greater number of abortions than live births among African American women;
• Abortion is the number one cause of death among African Americans surpassing all other causes combined.

Reversing the Trend

Pregnancy resource centers are non-profit organizations that help women and men that are facing unplanned pregnancies. This help includes pregnancy tests and counseling, STD and HIV testing and counseling, material assistance, abstinence training, post abortion counseling, along with many other supportive services for individuals that need help.

To generate opposition to pregnancy resource centers, abortion advocates point out that pregnancy resource centers now outnumber abortion facilities in America. This may be true in suburbia, but it is surely not true in the inner cities of America. Over the past year, Care Net has conducted research to identify underserved areas in which the development of new pregnancy resource centers would be warranted. This study has inevitably led to an analysis of numerous inner city areas where the number of abortion facilities greatly outnumbers existing pregnancy resource centers.

Philadelphia is one such city. Like many large cities, Philadelphia contains a high concentration of African Americans. Philadelphia County accounts for nearly 50% of all abortions performed in the state of Pennsylvania. In 2001 in Philadelphia, there were 14,389 abortions; 10,339 of these were performed on African American women. While African Americans make up only 10% of the state's population, they account for nearly 45% of all abortions. That means that the abortion rate among African American women in Pennsylvania is nearly 5 times greater than White women.

The easy access to nearby abortion facilities and the corresponding lack of available pregnancy resource centers appears to be one significant factor in creating this disproportionate tragedy. In the Philadelphia area, there are presently nine (9) abortion facilities, including four (4) Planned Parenthood locations. However, there are only two (2) pregnancy resource centers. Philadelphia is not an anomaly. Many cities across America that are populated by minorities have similar statistics.

Care Net's goal is to become more intentional and strategic in planting new centers in areas where they are most needed. To accomplish this we have hired Dr. Lillie Epps as Director of Urban Center Development. Her responsibilities include helping to promote the development of new centers in underserved areas and developing educational materials.