The Racist Origins of Planned Parenthood

On October 16, 1916, the first Planned Parenthood clinic in America opened in Brooklyn.

Margaret Sanger, a nurse who worked among the poor on the Lower East Side, founded the Brownsville Clinic, which was later renamed after her.

Of course, Sanger founded Planned Parenthood, which would lead America into an era of killing an estimated 64.5 million babies, all since Roe v. Wade in 1973. Though the Dobbs decision overturned Roe, abortion had already, as Ryan Anderson and Alexandra DeSanctis argued in Tearing Us Apart, poisoned nearly every aspect of our culture. 

Sanger’s views were deeply racist. which continue to be prevalent in Planned Parenthood today . An avowed advocate of eugenics, Sanger famously launched The Negro Project to eliminate Blacks through sterilization and birth control.

Though the context of her words is debated, Sanger once described the project, saying,  “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 legacy continues to this day. Although African Americans are about 14% of the U.S. population, as of 2021, 28% of all abortions are from Black women, compared to 6.4% of white women. Moms who are Black are between three and five times more likely to have an abortion. In New York City, thousands more African American babies are aborted than are born each year. 

In the book How to be an Anti-Racist, a The New York Times Bestseller list for 45 straight weeks, Dr. Ibram X. Kendi defined racism as anything that “produces or sustains racial inequity.” According to Kendi, intention does not matter. Only outcomes matter. 

Ironically, Kendi and other progressives use abortion rights in the cultural agenda for diversity, equality and inclusion.

However, according to his own (flawed) definition of racism, there is no more racist practice than abortion, and there is no cultural institution more racist than Planned Parenthood.

Over 19 million more Black people would be alive today if not for abortion and Planned Parenthood. Even more, Planned Parenthood’s business model directly targets Black and other minorities.

A 2017 study from Protecting Black Life found that 22 out of 25 abortion mega centers are located within walking distance of Black communities.  

The idea of systemic or institutional racism is controversial. However, it should not be theologically controversial to suggest that sin can take systemic and structural forms. There are examples throughout Scripture and human history. For example, prior to the flood, God described the evil of man as “great in the earth, and … every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5 ESV).  

Systems and structures can operate in ways that harm certain groups, but it does not alleviate individual responsibility for evil. Rather, it is what happens because evil corrupts hearts and minds, people and nations, and individuals and systems.  

There is no greater example of systemic racism in an organization than Planned Parenthood. Proponents of eugenics, like Sanger, wanted wealthy, healthy and strong people to have more babies. They also wanted poor, sick, disabled and minority people to have fewer babies or no children at all.

Of course, women who walk into a Planned Parenthood today are not thinking about Margaret Sanger or her racist views. They are in crisis and looking for help.

Many are scared, in poverty and are pressured to abort. Black mothers are nearly three times as likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth as white mothers. All have been raised in a society in which abortion has been normalized.  

Years ago, Planned Parenthood of New York removed Sanger’s name from its clinic. They even appealed to the city to change the name “Margaret Sanger Square.” Distancing from Sanger does not lessen the evil of her views or life’s work, but it also doesn’t redeem the racist foundations upon which Planned Parenthood has been built and still operates.