Reproductive Rights and Black Community

Recently Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg has come under fire for appearing to link abortion to eugenics, or the belief that intrinsic human qualities can be controlled or improved by controlling who can reproduce. Her quote appeared in and New York Times interview about a woman's role on the Supreme Court. She says, "Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of." The quote was taken out of context (read the rest of the article and Ginsburg's entire statement here), and used to draw not only unfavorable conclusions about Ginsburg's beliefs, but also about the women who get abortions and the motives of the people performing them.

Many years before Ginsburg, there was Margaret Sanger. Sanger's legacy is mixed to say the least. In 1921 she founded the American Birth Control League in New York City and that organization later became Planned Parenthood. As a nurse, Sanger had witnessed some self-inflicted abortions and the effects this had on women so she began advocating birth control to alleviate the eventual suffering of the women with whom she worked. She believed that women needed to access to information and tools to prevent unwanted pregnancies and began opening family planning clinics in poor areas in New York City. For this work, she is on Time's list of the 100 Most Influential People. Planned Parenthood even gives individuals the Margaret Sanger Award "to recognize leadership, excellence, and outstanding contributions to the reproductive health and rights movement."

In 1939, Sanger started what she called "The Negro Project." She wanted to promote the use of birth control specifically in the black community and sought funding and aide from many sources. She also wanted to test cheap birth control methods for effectiveness to develop something poor people could afford to use. Clarence Gamble (of Procter and Gamble) funded her project in the rural South. Sanger proposed the use of black ministers spread the word about contraception in the black community because "The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal," and "we do not want 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's belief in eugenics makes this quest to "educate" the black community about birth control a racist one. In her first pamphlet, What Every Boy and Girl Should Know, she wrote "ignorance breeds poverty and poverty breeds ignorance. There is only one cure for both, and that is to stop breeding these things." With the Negro Project she sought methods that poor blacks could afford and would use. She was also quoted as saying "The undeniably feeble-minded should, indeed, not only be discouraged but prevented from propagating their kind." Reduced reproduction was one effect of promoting birth control in black churches. The Division of Negro Service in the Birth Control League dissolved not too long after the organization became Planned Parenthood.

Today, abortion rates are highest among black women. Planned Parenthood strives to promote women's health, education, and well-being. Pro-life supporters point to Sanger's promotion of eugenics and seemingly racist ideas to "prove" that pro-choice supporters don't understand what they are supporting. Conservatives would like you to believe that by supporting Planned Parenthood, but supporting a woman's right to make her own decisions regarding her body, you are supporting the racist beliefs of Margaret Sanger. Your support of birth conrol and sex education means you support this version of population control and want to eliminate the black race.

Phil Valentine, a local conservative talk radio host, did a whole show "exposing" Margaret Sanger and population control. He used Ginsburg's comment to show that Sanger's philosophies still exist today in people we trust. He had a black preacher on the show blasting black people for using birth control and preventing unwanted pregnancies. He condemned Faye Wattleton for being black and still serving as president of Planned Parenthood. He lampooned recipients of the Margaret Sanger Award (including Martin Luther King Jr, former President Lyndon Johnson, and current US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton) and insinuated that receiving the award implied that these people were stupid (if they happened to be black) and in on the plot (if they happened to be white). Listening to this show really upset me and inspired me to read a few things and write this post.

What's best for the black community? A bunch of unwanted children running around? Then we'll be on welfare, another system designed to keep us down. An increasing abortion rate? That could be the reason we stay roughly 12-13% of the population while other communities grow. Do we boycott Planned Parenthood because its founder may have been a socialist racist intent on eliminating dysgenic (and black) people? Do we have babies as a rage against "the man?" Do we continue to feed into this plan to wipe us out? Depends on what you believe I guess...

You can find my ideas about having babies here, so I won't go over all of that again. I think people should have kids when they are able to support kids. I believe people, men and women, should educate themselves about contraception and options in the case of an unwanted pregnancy. I think it's far better to avoid an unwanted child than to bring that child into the world and mistreat it or neglect it. Women should have unlimited reproductive rights because it's her body.

As far as the black community goes... As soon as the collective "we" stops saying this is a plot to wipe us out and that is because of "the man," we can start taking responsibility for our actions and the collective "we" can move forward. Planned Parenthood may very well be a plot to eliminate us, but does that mean you have a bunch of kids you can't afford and then end up on welfare depending on the government to help you? Do you let the system dictate your circumstances or do you learn how to work the system to design your own circumstances? The black community needs to do a better job on education. That is... getting educated and then taking it home and educating your people. If that's the approach, then Sanger, eugenics, population control, etc don't matter. Focus on your rights.

Sources and Further Reading
Margaret Sanger Papers Project
Wikipedia
Time 100
"Deeds of Terrible Virtue"
Planned Parenthood