margaret sanger and planned parenthood.
This is filed in a category called “on the internet” for now. It’s basically me finding stuff online that pertains to Christianity and has an interesting discussion somewhere in the details. We’re talking news, YouTube videos, conspiracy theories…whatever. These are meant to be more open-ended and less formal than the articles, hopefully fostering some good discussion. Enjoy!
I’m known by some as an awesome Facebook stalker, and I recently came across the Facebook group called “Planned Parenthood’s Hidden Agenda.” Intriguing, I thought. So why not check it out?
Inside was this thing about how Margaret Sanger founded the organization and how she was a Nazi and she was all about eugenics and she hated black people and the like. It ends with this: “Margaret Sanger’s purpose of birth control, ‘to create a race of thoroughbreds’ is still being carried out today by a Planned Parenthood near you!”
I immediately smelled something afoul. I thought to myself that this was a little sketchy, and, after all, wasn’t she dead?
Well, this article (click to link) took my side and provided some good insight onto the topic. Things are taken out of context, things are inflated, sources are sketchy, and, of course, the woman is dead.
Look, I’m no fan of Planned Parenthood, nor am I a fan of abortion. But if you want to criticize an organization, to me, this isn’t the way to do it. This is for a few reasons.
- Probably at least half of the people (I’m just guessing) in Planned Parenthood don’t even know who Margaret Sanger is.
- Step back from the argument and ask yourself the question: Do you really believe that Planned Parenthood is practicing eugenics today?
- King James has been construed as a Christian-killing bisexual. Whether or not this is true, this doesn’t invalidate the beauty and usefulness of King James Version of the Bible. Lincoln was the first Republican president, but the GOP is NOTHING like what it was when it started - the Republicans of old were the liberals of the day! If we believe the people who say that the USA was founded by Christians as a Christian nation, then, by the logic in this Facebook group, wouldn’t we still be praying in public schools?
- There are plenty of ways to engage Planned Parenthood…why do it with hearsay and rumor?
- As Christians, is this a beneficial way to reach out to lost souls in the organization?
So yeah. I’m not a big fan of the Facebook group. Join it if you’d like, but at least consider the other side before you do so.
What do you think?
Cheers,
Brendan
June 4th, 2008 at 1:26 am
Here is a link to the facebook group
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=13869710439
I don’t know if planned parent hood is trying to kill specific groups or not, but if the creator of the group, and the members believe it that strongly, then I don’t see any problem with it.
The facebook group has comments enabled, and there have been almost 150 comments. So I guess it is good that it gets people debating, and sharing ideas.
Whether eugenics is taking place there now or not, it sounds like Margaret Sanger wasn’t a great person.
June 4th, 2008 at 1:31 am
“Probably at least half of the people (I’m just guessing) in Planned Parenthood don’t even know who Margaret Sanger is.”
If a planned parenthood clinic opened in a primarily black neighborhood or town. Then i don’t think it would matter if the people who worked there new who Margaret was or not. The question is if the executives, are practicing eugenics or not.
June 4th, 2008 at 1:40 am
I think i just repeated myself about 3 times.
haha, my comments weren’t showing up, so i kept on retyping pretty much the same thing. Now there all showing up.
June 4th, 2008 at 1:41 am
My spam filter caught them cause they had a link. I deleted your two most recent and kept the other ones. Sorry!
I’ll give it some time before I weigh in some more…see if anyone else has anything to say.
June 4th, 2008 at 11:36 am
Just because Sanger believes in eugenics does not necessarily mean that she tried to enforce it in her organization. The sources in the Facebook group clearly point to her viewpoint, but it does not have any sources to describe if her ideology was enacted. I’ll use me as an example, I suppose.
Do I think illegal drugs like narcotics are bad? Yes. Do I think people should not take them? Yes. If I met with a person who regularly takes drugs, would I try to persuade him or her to stop taking them? Yes. If I had the ability to stop every person from taking drugs, would I use it? No, mostly due to God allowing that person the free will to make decisions with the hope that the person would turn towards Him when given the choice.
June 4th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
“Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in America. 78% of their clinics are in minority communities. Blacks make up 12% of the population, but 35% of the abortions in America”
June 5th, 2008 at 1:51 am
Ack! I find myself in a weird position here. I’m not supporting the organization, but I am going to show the other side of the story.
Eugenics does not happen when people come to you. The Jews didn’t go to the camps with the intention of making the Aryan race more pure; rather, they were forcibly taken there against their will.
No one makes a woman go to a clinic and kill her child. Perhaps the sex ed in high school told her it was okay, and perhaps the appearance of more clinics lends itself to more abortions, but all the propaganda in the world wouldn’t have made the Jews submit themselves to a concentration camp for the sake of a better society.
And, moldytoaster, as for your latest comment, that’s a tough stat to analyze. Are the abortions happening because of the clinics, or are the clinics happening because of the abortions? Economists would lean towards the latter; supply generally accommodates demand.
Finally, I’m all about sharing ideas and debating them. But starting the conversation by demeaning the organization by calling them racist eugenicists might not be the best way to go about it. That’s the point of my post.
June 5th, 2008 at 8:47 am
Ok trying again.
First of all good site Brendino!
Secondly, I think Jon hit it right on the head about PP. I think it’s clear that they do target the underprivelidged and minorities. Here’s how the black Christian community has been responding to that:
http://www.osv.com/OSVNav/OSVNewsweeklyMay252008/Blackpastorsusepulpittofightabortion/tabid/6067/Default.aspx
And here’s my friend’s analysis of Sanger’s distorted mindset. http://www.withfortitude.blogspot.com/
Both of these sites don’t hesitate to expose the “dark side” of PP, and for good reason. Sanger - although perhaps not associated with Hitler and Nazism, and racist debate aside - obviously was pushing something evil and degrading to people. That legacy still lives on, both in terms of the availability of abortions and the pushing of artificial contraception.
June 5th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
“rather, they were forcibly taken there against their will.”
Isn’t that what is happening to the aborted babies. None of them choose to be killed. They had no say in the matter, they were forcibly taken away against their will.
June 6th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
i agree with moldy’s last comment its wrong. no matter what the reason its the slaughtering of an innocent defenseless life. and if you think i’m someone waying in without every being in a position of choice. my girlfriend and i found out we would have a baby when we were both 17 we didn’t have a solid relationship and my family pushed for it but we made the right choice and now we have a wounderful family now that the Lord is in the center of it.
June 7th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Okay, I think you all have made some valid arguments. I’ll stop short of outright condemning the lines of reasoning about eugenics and the like, but I stand by my original idea of approaching the topic correctly.
The link I provided in the post shows one example of how statements can be taken out of context or falsified. I found another one on my own; people attribute the quote “Colored people are like human weeds and are to be exterminated” to Sanger from a book called “The Pivot of Civilization.” I found an online copy of the book (public domain; search Google for it) and tried to find the quote and could not do so.
I think that we as Christians have absolute Truth on our side; we don’t need to resort to half-truths and I think it’s good to research our claims where possible. All arguments aside, I hope that’s something we can agree on.