Planned Parenthood Removes Name of Racist Founder from NYC Clinic

Planned Parenthood of New York has finally decided to distance itself from its founder, Margaret Sanger, by removing her name from its flagship building in Manhattan. Margaret Sanger had strong racist beliefs (she even spoke at a Ku Klux Klan rally) and started programs to limit the size of the African American population. She wrote:

“The mass of Negroes, particularly in the South, still breed carelessly and disastrously, with the result that the increase among Negroes, even more than among whites, is from that portion of the population least intelligent and fit, and least able to rear children properly” (E.B. DuBois, Birth Control Review 1932, requoted by Sanger, Birth Control and the Negro, 1939).

In an open letter dated June 18, 2020, staffers at PP of Greater New York wrote: “PP was founded by a racist, white woman. That is a part of history that cannot be changed” The letter went on to acknowledge current racism issues, saying, “We know that PP has a history and a present steeped in white supremacy and we, the staff, are motivated to do the difficult work to improve.”

Karen Seltzer, chairwoman of PP’s New York affiliate’s board, said: “The removal of Margaret Sanger’s name from our building is both a necessary and overdue step to reckon with our legacy and acknowledge Planned Parenthood’s contributions to historical reproductive harm within communities of color” (The As- sociated Press, July 21, 2020).

Unfortunately, Planned Parenthood has no plans to deter aborting babies of color. Black women continue to have higher abortion rates than White women, and 79% of PP’s clinics are within walking distance of Black and/or Latino neighborhoods. PP’s persistence in aborting babies of color in lieu of offering life-saving alternatives reinforces the systemic racism that people are trying to obliterate.

Supreme Court Strikes Down Restrictive Louisiana Abortion Law

On June 29, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law that required abortionists to have admit- ting privileges at nearby hospitals, saying it imposed a burden to abortion access. The law was intended to prevent unreliable abortion clinics from popping up and to make abortionists meet the same state licensing standards as surgical ambulatory centers.