That's not me speaking, but I wanted to get your attention. the author of that quote is none other than the late purveyor of bigotry Jerry Falwell's son, Jonathan Falwell, at WorldNetDaily. I was perusing the site in preparation for my upcoming blog discussion with Vox Day, another columnist for WorldNetDaily and owner of the blog Vox Popoli. (It should be an exciting exchange--I'm currently reading his book The Irrational Atheist. Stay tuned.) Apparently, Falwell is still clinging to the "Margaret Sanger was a proponent of eugenics" argument against Planned Parenthood and reproductive rights, but even more disturbing was another article I found at the same nefarious site authored by Bob Unruh, entitled "Planned Parenthood: Wanting fewer blacks 'understandable".
The surfeit of spin on this story is making me nauseous, and the actual issue at hand is even worse. An undercover "investigation" of some sort occurred during which a man called Planned Parenthoods in seven states posing as a man inquiring about ways to donate. (There is a YouTube video containing recordings here.) This investigating group has not been identified, to my knowledge, but I feel that it wouldn't be a stretch to assume that it was another attempt of those with an anti-reproductive rights agenda to demonize and defame the Planned Parenthood organization. We all know how horrible it is to offer under-privileged women access to contraception and, yes, even abortions. If the woman can't afford medical care or reliable methods of birth control, it's plainly obvious that having the child is the best course of action.
At any rate, the agent of this deception calls a PP clinic offering a donation. He moves on to ask if he can ask that it be allocated specifically to women of color. This is an accepted practice there as some may want to provide extra benefits to minority women who often aren't as financially secure or don't have health care. The person on the phone replies thus, and the fraudulent benefactor then replies that his intent is to reduce the number of black babies born due to his racist and stereotypical views. The conversations tended to become very awkward after that, and the PP employee's incredulity is often quite obvious. Like any other organization, though, there is a general agreement (as least from the available information) that the donation will be accepted. Their reasoning is completely obvious to anybody who has ever relied on donations for their ability to function, as they know how the money will be used regardless of the intent of the donor. If somebody offered us at the RRS a donation because he/she believed that we are detrimental to atheism and wants to promote us for that reason, we would likely still accept the money. Without money, any organization will die, and so long as there is no affiliation or partnership contingency, generally money from anybody will be accepted.
This has been painted in the aforementioned article, as well as others, as a gross injustice on the part of PP and cries of "racism" and "eugenics" are running rampant. Given the obvious dishonest intent and purposeful misrepresentation to the media, the people who should be harangued here are the so-called "investigators" themselves. Their biased agenda and dishonest trapping of these PP employees, whose names and office locations are published in the YouTube video, is despicable. The subsequent acceptance of this as evidence by anybody betrays the inability to utilize their collective cerebral cortices.
Is it possible that this person spoke to some employees with prejudices of their own? Of course, but that say nothing about the agency as a whole and their stance on such matters. It is relatively easy to paint people into a corner using dishonest tactics, particularly if it is completely unexpected by the victim of this fraudulent activity. The individuals writing about this matter in the vein of the aforementioned Bob Unruh have already bought the anti-abortion propaganda hook, line, and sinker, so to them, it must be quite a thrill to twist this unscrupulously gained information to suit their own purposes.
Beyond this immediate issue, I would just like to add that there is some evidence that Margaret Sanger was a proponent of eugenics or "social Darwinism"--just like many people in the early twentieth century. Her personal beliefs have not necessarily impacted the organization she founded, particularly 80 years after the fact. The fact that more black women get abortions is not because Planned Parenthood operatives are forcing these women--it's because they have an extraordinarily high incidence of poverty and familial instability. Did Planned Parenthood cause that to happen as well? Maybe they initiated the slave trade preemptively to ensure it, too.
Overall, this latest batch of anti-abortion propaganda should be offensive to any person with critical thinking faculties, and I hope that some of you will also speak out to stop this insidious meme from spreading.
