Smithsonian Favors Racist Eugenicist vs. Blacks

Curators at the Smithsonian Institution art and history museum are rejecting calls for the removal of a bust of Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger.  Rather, the national historians say that the famous early 20th Century American eugenicist, who referred to the negro race as "human weeds" and "human waste," belongs in the museum's civil rights “Struggle for Justice” exhibit.

"We are paying for, even submitting to, the dictates of an ever increasing, unceasingly spawning class of human beings who never should have been born at all. . . . We don't want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population and the [colored] minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members."
-- Margaret Sanger (writing to birth control advocate Dr. Clarence Gamble in 1939)

"The last thing we need is a white supremacist sitting between the bust of Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. That is a slap in the face of black folks and I hope the curator can understand that."
-- Rev. Johnny Hunter, chairman of the Frederick Douglass Foundation

For background, read Sanger's 'Extermination of Negros' Goal Censored by Media and also read Black Abortion Key to Reducing Poverty, Says Mayor as well as Minorities (mostly black) Targeted by Planned Parenthood for Abortion: Study

And read Illegal Abortion Clinic in Selma — Black Lives Matter



-- From "Conservatives Want Bust of Planned Parenthood Founder Removed From National Portrait Gallery" by Daniel White, Time Magazine 8/27/15

Conservative groups are calling on the National Portrait Gallery to remove of a bust of Margaret Sanger from the Washington, D.C. museum, the Associated Press reports. Sanger, who died in 1966, founded two groups that eventually became Planned Parenthood.

. . . a group of ministers lead by former Republican politician E.W. Jackson and the conservative non-profit ForAmerica say their opposition to the bust is based on Sanger’s support of eugenics, a social movement that sought to remove undesirable traits from the gene pool through sterilization and selective breeding.

. . . Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas have written a letter to lawmakers that calls the sculpture’s display by the museum “an affront both to basic human decency and the very meaning of justice.”

In a statement to TIME, Planned Parenthood acknowledged Sanger’s flaws, but dismissed the attacks as motivated by anti-abortion sentiment.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Conservatives target bust of Planned Parenthood founder" by The Associated Press - CBS News 8/27/15

[Birth control advocate Margaret] Sanger, who died in 1966, also supported eugenics, a now-condemned effort to discourage reproduction by criminals and others with undesirable traits. Brent Bozell, chairman of the conservative group ForAmerica, and a group of black pastors say Sanger favored using eugenics to limit the population of blacks, a claim that some Republican lawmakers have echoed but for which the evidence is contested.

"She will not be removed," museum spokeswoman Bethany Bentley said Wednesday. She said the gallery displays "significant people who represent the full spectrum of the American experience," including some with "less than admirable characteristics."

A Planned Parenthood spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But the group's website describes Sanger as "one of the movement's great heroes." It says women's progress in education, jobs and politics "can be directly linked to Sanger's crusade and women's ability to control their own fertility."

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Black Pastors Protest Smithsonian Bust of Planned Parenthood's Nazi-Like Founder Margaret Sanger in Civil Rights Exhibit" by Samuel Smith, Christian Post Reporter 8/27/15

Prominent black pastors and pro-life activists gathered in front of the National Portrait Gallery on Thursday to demand that the taxpayer-funded museum remove a bust of Planned Parenthood's white supremacist founder, Margaret Sanger, from the institution's "Struggle for Justice" exhibit.

Nearly 20 African-American pastors and pro-life advocates spoke at the rally and explained that Sanger, who established abortion organizations that eventually became the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, did not advocate for abortion and birth control because she wanted to help "disadvantaged women," but because it was her goal to use eugenics to eliminate what she considered people of "inferior races."

In response to the letter sent by the coalition Ministers Taking a Stand earlier this month, National Portrait Gallery Director Kim Sajet replied with a letter stating that the gallery will keep the bust because Sanger brought "medical advice and affordable birth control to disadvantaged women."

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Black Pastors, Pro-Life Leaders Rally to Demand Smithsonian Remove Bust of Planned Parenthood Founder Margaret Sanger" by Penny Starr and Lauretta Brown, CNSNews.com 8/27/15

“The woman was a racist. She was a genocidal figure in America and in human history, and to honor her is to be complicit in her evil and her racism,” [Bishop E.W.] Jackson said. “That’s right. If you are honoring Margaret Sanger, you are joining together with her in her racist ideology.”

Rev. Johnny Hunter of the Global Life and Family Mission in North Carolina, said it was a “slap in the face to black folks” to have Sanger as part of the “Struggle for Justice” exhibit.

“Her association with the eugenics movement shadowed her achievements in sex education and contraception, making her a figure of controversy, one whose complexities and contradictions mirror her times,” Director Kim Sajet told the pastors in an Aug. 19 letter.

“There is no ‘moral test’ for people to be accepted into the National Portrait Gallery,” said Sajet.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "#BlackLivesMatter: Pastors Take on Controversial Legacy of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger, Black Genocide in Scathing Letter" posted by Manny Otiko at Atlanta Black Star 8/10/15

Sanger worked to bring birth control to Black families in the south, but recognized her ideas would be met with suspicion. According to Factcheck.org, an organization that verifies media statements made by elected officials, Sanger wrote about the importance of gaining support from a black clergyman.

Considering its origins, the Black community has long viewed the birth control movement with suspicion. Many Black people felt that early experiments with birth control pills used Black communities as test subjects. And up until recently, some states still practiced elements of eugenics with mentally challenged people and other undesirables being forcibly sterilized. An Atlanta Blackstar story reported several cases of Black female inmates in California being sterilized without their consent.

Today, anti-abortion activists say the high rate of abortion in the Black community carries elements of eugenics. According to figures from the Center for Disease Control, while Black people make up about 14 percent of the population, 40 percent of abortions are carried out by Black women.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Click headlines below to read previous articles:

America Protests Planned Parenthood, Media Ignore

Planned Parenthood Caught Selling Aborted Babies on Video

Planned Parenthood Reports its Abortions & Profits Increased Last Year

President Obama Asks God to Bless Planned Parenthood

Also read and view a vintage interview with Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger

'Black Genocide,' Herman Cain Labels Abortion

The eugenic history of Planned Parenthood's founder Margaret Sanger, and the current facts of abortion clinic locations have been injected into the presidential campaign by answers that candidate Herman Cain gave to CBS News questions.

For background, read Minorities Targeted by Planned Parenthood for Abortion: Study and also read Abortion Targeting Blacks: Exposed in Media Campaign as well as Black Genocide in New York City (nearly 2 of 3 killed in womb)



UPDATE 10/30/11: Planned Parenthood research advocate admits abortion rate of blacks is five times the rate of whites

-- From "Cain: I'm 'pro-life from conception, period'" by Lucy Madison, CBS News 10/30/11

Herman Cain again attempted to clarify his position on abortion Sunday, declaring on CBS' "Face the Nation" that "I am pro-life from conception, period" - and that he does not support exceptions even for victims of rape and incest.

"I want to ask you, since we're on the subject of abortion, at one point back there when the question of Planned Parenthood came up and you said that it was not Planned Parenthood, it was really 'Planned Genocide' - because you said Planned Parenthood was trying to put all these centers into the black communities because they wanted to kill black babies before they were born," [CBS commentator Bob] Schieffer recounted.

"I still stand by that," said Cain.

"If people go back and look at the history and look at Margaret Sanger's own words that's exactly where that came from. Look up the history. So if you go back and look up the history, look at where most of them were built," he said. "Seventy five percent of those facilities were built in the black community and Margaret Sanger's own words. She didn't use the word genocide but she did talk about preventing the increasing number of poor blacks in this country by preventing black babies from being born."

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Cain says he opposes abortion without exceptions" by Shannon Mccaffrey, Associated Press 10/30/11

[Cain] endorsed a controversial theory linking abortion to racial genocide. Cain said Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger wanted to eradicate minorities by putting birth control clinics in their neighborhoods, a charge that the group denies.

Cain said 75 percent of the organization's abortion facilities were built in black communities.

. . . Cain's view has gained currency in the anti-abortion movement, which has backed several state measures to ban abortions based on race. In Cain's home state of Georgia, dozens of provocative billboards popped around Atlanta last year labeling black children an "endangered species" in an effort to use race to rally support against abortion within the black community.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Herman Cain Won't Retract: Planned Parenthood is ‘Planned Genocide’" by Terence P. Jeffrey, CNSNews.com 10/30/11

“Here’s why I support de-funding Planned Parenthood, because you don’t hear a lot of people talking about this: When Margaret Sanger--check my history--started Planned Parenthood, the objective was to put these centers in primarily black communities so they could help kill black babies before they came into the world,” Cain responded [on March 15, 2011].

“It’s carrying out its original mission,” said Cain. “I’ve talked to young girls who go in there and they don’t talk about how you plan parenthood. They don’t talk about adoption as an option. They don’t say bring your parents in so you we can talk to you before you make this decision.

“Talk to some young lady who has gone into some of these centers to see what kind of conversation takes place,” said Cain. “They have basically carried out their original mission. There’s not any planning other than to abort the baby.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, 36.5 percent of the abortions done in the United States in 2007 were done on black babies. However, according to the Census Bureau, 12.4 percent of the overall U.S. population is black. That means that black babies are aborted at a rate that is almost triple the rate of blacks in the nation’s population.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Also read and view a vintage interview with Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger

Minorities Targeted by Planned Parenthood for Abortion: Study

A new demographic study shows that the nation's largest abortion corporation locates its clinics in mostly black and hispanic areas in order to maximize abortions performed -- areas that perpetually have the highest rates of unintended pregnancies, thus disproving the corporation's mission claims to the contrary.

UPDATE 12/1/15: Most U.S. Abortions are Blacks & Hispanic, Gov't Reports

UPDATE 9/17/13: Black Abortion is Key to Reducing Poverty, Says Mayor

UPDATE 7/14/13: Democrats Want Blacks & Hispanics Aborted in Texas

For background, read Abortion Targeting Blacks: Exposed in Media Campaign and also read Black Genocide in New York City (nearly 2 of 3 killed in womb) as well as 'Extermination of Negros' Abortionist's Goal Censored

-- From "Report Proves Planned Parenthood Targets Blacks, Hispanics" by Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com 8/29/11

A new reported issued by the pro-life group Life Dynamics . . . Titled, “Racial Targeting and Population Control,” . . . validates the claims pro-life advocates have made for years — and that Life Dynamics made in its groundbreaking Maafa21 video released two years ago — showing that abortion advocates have purposefully placed abortion centers in urban areas with high percentages of black and Hispanic residents.

Mark Crutcher and Carole Novielli conducted the research in the 24-page report and they say the location of abortion centers is the modern equivalent of the population control policies against minorities, especially African-Americans, that Planned Parenthood has supported since Margaret Sanger founded it. The researchers say they prepared the new report to respond to the criticism of the claims abortion advocates have made to the racial charges — and to point out a hypocrisy.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Racial Targeting and Population Control" by Mark Crutcher, President, Life Dynamics Incorporated

. . . as far back as the mid 1900s, some wellknown eugenicists were arguing that the most effective way they could advance their agenda would be to concentrate population control facilities within the targeted communities. . . .

. . . Planned Parenthood and others within the abortion and family planning lobby took this approach when choosing locations for their facilities and that this practice continues to this day.

. . . ["Family planning" defenders] have consistently argued that the most effective way to reduce the number of abortions is to prevent unplanned pregnancies by making birth control chemicals, devices and information widely available. If that is true, in light of their concession that they have focused these things on the minority community, the obvious result should be that black women have the lowest pregnancy and abortion rates in the country.

But to the contrary, in contemporary America, the rate of pregnancy among black women is almost three times as high as it is for white women and, though they make up less than 13% of the female population, black women have about 37% of the abortions. In other words, the family planning lobby’s argument that they concentrate their facilities in minority communities because that is where the need is, cannot be reconciled with their long espoused claim about the connection between contraception, pregnancy and abortion.

Virtually overnight, they went from claiming that they target minority communities with noble intentions to claiming that they don’t target them at all. Then, to support this revised strategy, they began quoting a new report by the Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI) showing that only one in 10 Planned Parenthood clinics is located in a minority community.

The reality is, the research in AGI’s report had been manipulated to yield pre-determined results.

To read the entire report, CLICK HERE.

Also read and view a vintage interview with Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger

UPDATE 8/28/15: Smithsonian Favors Racist Eugenicist Margaret Sanger over African Americans

Black Population Down in American Cities

The just-released U.S. Census figures show a precipitous drop in African Americans in many American cities, confirming the phenomenon of "black genocide" committed by the abortion industry. Media "political correctness" seeks non-abortion explanations for the disappearing black population in cities.

The African-American growth rate has dropped from over 16% in the 1990s to about 10% since 2000.

UPDATE 12/1/15: Most U.S. Abortions are Blacks & Hispanic, Gov't Reports

For background read Black Genocide in New York City (nearly 2 of 3 killed in womb) and also read Abortion Targeting Blacks: Exposed in Media Campaign

-- From "[New York] City Population Barely Grew in the ’00s, Census Finds" by Sam Roberts, New York Times 3/24/11

For the first time since the draft riots during the Civil War, the number of black New Yorkers has declined, by 5 percent. Non-Hispanic blacks now account for 23 percent of New Yorkers.

The number of Asians increased 32 percent since 2000, passing the one million mark and now constituting 13 percent of the population.

The Hispanic population rose 8 percent and now makes up 29 percent of the total.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Black populations fall in major cities" by Haya El Nasser, USA TODAY 3/22/11

The black population is declining in a growing number of major cities — more evidence that the settlement pattern of African Americans is changing as they disperse to suburbia and warmer parts of the nation.

2010 Census data released so far this year show that 20 of the 25 cities that have at least 250,000 people and a 20% black population either lost more blacks or gained fewer in the past decade than during the 1990s. The declines happened in some traditional black strongholds: Chicago, Oakland, Atlanta, Cleveland and St. Louis.

The drop also can be partially attributed to a declining black fertility rate and the aging of the black population, says John Logan, director of US 2010 Project at Brown University, which studies trends in American society. "We're starting to see the graying not only of the white population but of the black population," he says.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Census to offer new proof that Hispanic, Asian growth skyrocketed in past decade" by Carol Morello and Dan Keating, Washington Post 3/24/11

The new [census] data will include information on the racial and ethnic makeup of the District [of Columbia]. D.C. officials say they expect the count will show a continued shrinking number of African Americans, to just over half the District’s 600,000 residents. Many demographers predict that by the next census, the District will no longer have a black majority.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Abortion advocates guilty of genocide" by Barbara Howard, South Florida Times 3/14/11

The mother of birth control and Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger, was an avowed atheist, Socialist and a proponent of negative eugenics.

Sanger wrote in What Every Boy and Girl Should Know (1915), “It is a vicious cycle; ignorance breeds poverty and poverty breeds ignorance. There is only one cure for both, and that is to stop breeding these things.

“Stop bringing to birth children whose inheritance cannot be one of health or intelligence. Stop bringing into the world children whose parents cannot provide for them.”

She wrote further, in "Birth Control and Racial Betterment" (The Birth Control Review), “We maintain that a woman possessing an adequate knowledge of her reproductive functions is the best judge of the time and conditions under which her child should be brought into the world… it is her right, regardless of all other considerations, to determine whether she shall bear children or not, and how many children she shall bear if she chooses to become a mother....”

Since the first “family planning” clinic was opened in Harlem in 1930, there have been “more than 820 health centers around the country,” according to Planned Parenthood’s website. With most of the health centers located in black communities, abortion has become the number-one killer of blacks.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Also read 'Extermination of Negros' Abortionist's Goal Censored

'Extermination of Negros' Abortionist's Goal Censored

CBS Outdoor refuses billboard advertisement in Michigan quoting Planned Parenthood founder's eugenic mantra of black genocide

UPDATE 8/28/15: Smithsonian Favors Racist Eugenicist Margaret Sanger over African Americans

For background read Black Genocide in New York City (nearly 2 of 3 killed in womb) and also read Abortion Targeting Blacks: Exposed in Media Campaign

-- From "Controversial pro-life sign banned from being a billboard" by Dan Armstrong, WEYI NBC-TV25 Flint, Michigan 3/8/11

That message, a quote from Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger talking about the extermination of black people.

The sign that CBS Outdoor refused to put on one of its Flint billboards quotes Margaret Sanger saying, "We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population."

"If you read her biography, she was very much tied to the Ku Klux Klan, to the Nazis, to Hitler. She very much wanted thoroughbreds. That's the word she used, thoroughbreds, and the way to make that happen was to eliminate minorities. She called them weeds in the garden of life," says Judy Climer, director of Flint Area Right to Life.

Planned Parenthood . . . admits Sanger was a product of her time and embraced some ideas that are not considered popular today.

It says, despite that, Sanger was a pioneer and champion for all women's rights.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Another billboard exposing eugenicist Planned Parenthood founder banned" by Kathleen Gilbert, LifeSiteNews.com 3/9/11

A Planned Parenthood biography of Sanger accused pro-life advocates of “intentionally confusing [Sanger’s] views on ‘fitness’ with eugenics.” Sanger was an advocate of preventing “unfit” persons from breeding as a means of improving the quality of the human race.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Also read Truth About Abortion Offends New Yorkers

To watch an interview with the late Margaret Sanger, CLICK HERE.

Pro-life Movement Exploiting Blacks: New York Times

As 40% of black babies are slain in the womb (per this NY Times article), pro-abortion journalists claim that pro-life advocates are unfairly informing blacks of these statistics. Abortionists fear the message is getting through to the black community, thus risking profits.

-- From "To Court Blacks, Foes of Abortion Make Racial Case" by Shaila Dewan, New York Times 2/26/10

For years the largely white staff of Georgia Right to Life, the state’s largest anti-abortion group, tried to tackle the disproportionately high number of black women who undergo abortions. But, staff members said, they found it difficult to make inroads with black audiences.

So in 2009, the group took money that it normally used for advertising a pregnancy hot line and hired a black woman, Catherine Davis, to be its minority outreach coordinator.

Ms. Davis traveled to black churches and colleges around the state, delivering the message that abortion is the primary tool in a decades-old conspiracy to kill off blacks.

This month, the group expanded its reach, making national news with 80 billboards around Atlanta that proclaim, “Black children are an endangered species,” and a Web site, www.toomanyaborted.com.

Across the country, the anti-abortion movement, long viewed as almost exclusively white and Republican, is turning its attention to African-Americans and encouraging black abortion opponents across the country to become more active.

A new documentary, written and directed by Mark Crutcher, a white abortion opponent in Denton, Tex., meticulously traces what it says are connections among slavery, Nazi-style eugenics, birth control and abortion, and is being regularly screened by black organizations.

Abortion opponents say the number is so high because abortion clinics are deliberately located in black neighborhoods and prey upon black women. The evidence, they say, is everywhere: Planned Parenthood’s response to the anti-abortion ad that aired during the Super Bowl featured two black athletes, they note, and several women’s clinics offered free services — including abortions — to evacuees after Hurricane Katrina. [Similar to actions in Haiti last month.]

But those who support abortion rights dispute the conspiracy theory, saying it portrays black women as dupes and victims. The reason black women have so many abortions is simple, they say: too many unwanted pregnancies.

“It’s a perfect storm,” said Loretta Ross, the executive director of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective in Atlanta, listing a lack of access to birth control, lack of education, and even a high rate of sexual violence. “There’s an assumption that every time a girl is pregnant it’s because of voluntary activity, and it’s so not the case,” Ms. Ross said.

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

Abortion Industry Dead, Were it not for Taxpayer Support

A new report asserts the U.S. abortion industry is in significant decline, held together largely through the $300 million-plus that federal taxpayers deliver annually to its major player, Planned Parenthood.

-- From "Report: Taxes prop up 'dying' abortion industry" by Bob Unruh © 2010 WorldNetDaily 2/21/10

"It is very clear that the only abortion group expanding its business is Planned Parenthood, and the only reason it can do so is with the help of our tax dollars," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.

His organization last year launched Project Daniel 5:15, which monitors and reports on the status of abortion businesses across the country.

Newman told WND that in the last two decades, two-thirds of the abortion businesses in the nation have imploded.

While Title X funding isn't supposed to go directly for abortions, it does pay the mortgage, light bills, staff salaries and the like, he said.

Stop Planned Parenthood, an effort of the American Life League, promotes a petition demanding that elected officials halt the flow of taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood, an organization launched by eugenics advocate Margaret Sanger.

The STOPP organization notes that recent annual federal tax subsidies to Planned Parenthood have been in the $320 million to $330 million range. From 1987 through 2003, the total was $2.7 billion.

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

Countering Planned Parenthood Eugenics via Billboards

The message on dozens of billboards across Atlanta is provocative: Black children are an 'endangered species.'

"Abortion in the black community is at epidemic proportions. If it shocks people . . . it should be shocking."

UPDATE 3/2/10: L.A. Times blames inadequate health insurance for unplanned black pregnancies

-- From "Anti-abortion billboards try to rally blacks" by The Associated Press 2/15/10

The eyebrow-raising ads featuring a young black child are an effort by the anti-abortion movement to use race to rally support within the black community. The reaction from black leaders has been mixed, but the "Too Many Aborted" campaign, which so far is unique to Georgia, is drawing support from other anti-abortion groups across the country.

The billboards went up last week in Atlanta and urge black women to "get outraged." The effort is sponsored by Georgia Right to Life.

Nationally, black women were more than three times as likely to get an abortion in 2006 compared with white women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Anti-abortion activists say the procedure has always been linked to race. They claim Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger wanted to eradicate minorities by putting birth-control clinics in their neighborhoods, an allegation Planned Parenthood denies.

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

Ginsburg: Feminizing From the Bench

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in rare, bazaar interview, demonstrates disconnect with most all Americans -- explains her assumption that Margaret Sanger eugenics was basis of Roe v. Wade

UPDATE 7/10/09: Justice Ginsburg: I Thought Roe Would Help Eradicate Unwanted Populations

Be sure to read the entire interview; below are just a few excerpts . . .

-- From "The Place of Women on the Court" by Emily Bazelon, New York Times Magazine 7/12/09 edition

Q: Let me ask you about the fight you waged for the courts to understand that pregnancy discrimination is a form of sex discrimination.

JUSTICE GINSBURG: I wrote about it a number of times. I litigated Captain Struck’s case about reproductive choice. [In 1972, Ginsburg represented Capt. Susan Struck, who became pregnant during her service in the Air Force. At the time, the Air Force automatically discharged any woman who became pregnant and told Captain Struck that she should have an abortion if she wanted to keep her job. The government changed the regulation before the Supreme Court could decide the case.] If the court could have seen Susan Struck’s case — this was the U.S. government, a U.S. Air Force post, offering abortions, in 1971, two years before Roe.

Q: And suggesting an abortion as the solution to Struck’s problem.

JUSTICE GINSBURG: Yes. Not only that, but it was available to her on the base.

Q: The case ties together themes of women’s equality and reproductive freedom. The court split those themes apart in Roe v. Wade. Do you see, as part of a future feminist legal wish list, repositioning Roe so that the right to abortion is rooted in the constitutional promise of sex equality?

JUSTICE GINSBURG: Oh, yes. I think it will be.

Q: If you were a lawyer again, what would you want to accomplish as a future feminist legal agenda?

JUSTICE GINSBURG: Reproductive choice has to be straightened out. There will never be a woman of means without choice anymore. That just seems to me so obvious. The states that had changed their abortion laws before Roe [to make abortion legal] are not going to change back. So we have a policy that affects only poor women, and it can never be otherwise, and I don’t know why this hasn’t been said more often.

Q: Are you talking about the distances women have to travel because in parts of the country, abortion is essentially unavailable, because there are so few doctors and clinics that do the procedure? And also, the lack of Medicaid for abortions for poor women?

JUSTICE GINSBURG: Yes, the ruling about that surprised me. [Harris v. McRae — in 1980 the court upheld the Hyde Amendment, which forbids the use of Medicaid for abortions.] 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. So that Roe was going to be then set up for Medicaid funding for abortion. Which some people felt would risk coercing women into having abortions when they didn’t really want them. But when the court decided McRae, the case came out the other way. And then I realized that my perception of it had been altogether wrong.

Q: When you say that reproductive rights need to be straightened out, what do you mean?

JUSTICE GINSBURG: The basic thing is that the government has no business making that choice for a woman.

Q: Does that mean getting rid of the test the court imposed, in which it allows states to impose restrictions on abortion — like a waiting period — that are not deemed an “undue burden” to a woman’s reproductive freedom?

JUSTICE GINSBURG: I’m not a big fan of these tests. I think the court uses them as a label that accommodates the result it wants to reach. It will be, it should be, that this is a woman’s decision. It’s entirely appropriate to say it has to be an informed decision, but that doesn’t mean you can keep a woman overnight who has traveled a great distance to get to the clinic, so that she has to go to some motel and think it over for 24 hours or 48 hours.

I still think, although I was much too optimistic in the early days, that the possibility of stopping a pregnancy very early is significant. The morning-after pill will become more accessible and easier to take. So I think the side that wants to take the choice away from women and give it to the state, they’re fighting a losing battle. Time is on the side of change.

Q: Since we are talking about abortion, I want to ask you about Gonzales v. Carhart, the case in which the court upheld a law banning so-called partial-birth abortion. Justice Kennedy in his opinion for the majority characterized women as regretting the choice to have an abortion, and then talked about how they need to be shielded from knowing the specifics of what they’d done. You wrote, “This way of thinking reflects ancient notions about women’s place in the family and under the Constitution.” I wondered if this was an example of the court not quite making the turn to seeing women as fully autonomous.

JUSTICE GINSBURG: The poor little woman, to regret the choice that she made. Unfortunately there is something of that in Roe. It’s not about the women alone. It’s the women in consultation with her doctor. So the view you get is the tall doctor and the little woman who needs him.

Q: In the 1980s, you wrote about how while the sphere for women has widened to include more work, men haven’t taken on as much domestic responsibility. Do you think that things are beginning to change?

JUSTICE GINSBURG: That’s going to take time, changing that kind of culture. But looking at my own family, my daughter Jane teaches at Columbia, she travels all over the world, and she has the most outstanding supportive husband who certainly carries his fair share of the load. Although their division of labor is different than mine and my husband’s, because my daughter is a super cook.

Q: Can courts play a role in changing that culture?

JUSTICE GINSBURG: The Legislature can make the change, can facilitate the change, as laws like the Family Medical Leave Act do. But it’s not something a court can decree. A court can’t tell the man, You’ve got to do more than carry out the garbage.

Hillary Receives Planned Parenthood's Margaret Sanger Award

In accepting the award, Obama's envoy to the world equated pro-life advocacy to anti-democratic belief that "often leads to violence and extremism."

-- From "Clinton honored for support of women's rights" Associated Press 3/28/2009

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says reproductive rights as well as women's rights and empowerment are key issues in President Barack Obama's foreign policy.

Clinton vowed her support for these issues during a speech Friday evening at the Planned Parenthood Federation of America's national conference in Houston.

She was honored by Planned Parenthood with its Margaret Sanger Award, the organization's highest honor, for her work throughout her public service career on behalf of women's health and reproductive rights.

Clinton says these rights are building blocks of democracy as societies that deny and demean women's roles are ones more likely to engage in behavior that is negative, antidemocratic and that leads to violence and extremism.

From "Hillary Says Pro-Life Is Anti-Democratic, and the Papers Only Say She 'Champions Women's Rights'?" by Tim Graham, NewsBusters.com 3/29/09

Excerpts from Hillary's acceptance speech:

The 20th century reproductive rights movement, really embodied in the life and leadership of Margaret Sanger, was one of the most transformational in the entire history of the human race. It has changed the lives of tens of millions of women. It has changed attitudes and perceptions about women and our roles in society. It ushered in demographic and social changes that have brought us closer to gender equality than at any time....

So it often is important to remember what is most basic in any of our lives. The ability to plan a family and to raise healthy children is certainly at the core of that. Ensuring that women have that freedom will be the policy of this Administration. (Applause.) And there isn't any organization in the world with a reputation for caring so much and doing so much and being so courageous or truly being a valorous organization in the tradition as a woman of valor.

A society that denies and demeans women's roles and rights is a society that is more likely to engage in behavior that is negative, anti-democratic, and which often leads to violence and extremism.

To read more Hillary excerpts and a commentary, CLICK HERE.

Nancy Pelosi's 'Condom Stimulus' Repels Obama

White House spokesman says President didn't suggest contraceptives to save tax dollars

-- From "Backing Away from Pelosi, White House Says Birth Control Funding in Stimulus Bill Was Not Obama's Idea" by Fred Lucas, Staff Writer CNSNews.com 1/26/09

The Obama White House on Monday backed away from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s support for increased federal funding of contraception in the $825-billion stimulus bill now under consideration by Congress.

“The principles of what he thought should be in the package--that wasn’t part of that,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton told CNSNews.com.

The provision in the draft legislation would expand federal funding for contraception through Medicaid, allowing those not poor enough to be currently eligible for Medicaid to nonetheless qualify for the contraception aid.

A program created during the Clinton administration allows states to seek a waiver to offer Medicaid “family planning” services to those who are otherwise not qualified for Medicaid. When states get a waiver, the federal government matches state Medicaid family planning funds with $9 in federal money for every $1 the state spends.

Under the provision in the stimulus package supported by Speaker Pelosi, states would no longer need to apply for a waiver. All 50 states would be given 9-1 federal matching funds for their Medicaid-funded contraceptives.

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

House Speaker Pelosi Claims Condoms Save Tax Dollars

Question: What is Ms. Pelosi implying? How does contraception cut government spending?

There can be only one answer: Reducing the births of low income citizens, would lower the costs of such government relief programs. Apparently, Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger has been reincarnated.

Congresswoman Pelosi: "Well, the family planning services reduce cost. They reduce cost. The states are in terrible fiscal budget crises now and part of what we do for children's health, education and some of those elements are to help the states meet their financial needs. One of those - one of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception, will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government."

Planned Parenthood Founder Margaret Sanger Interview

This archive film (CLICK HERE to view) of The Mike Wallace Interview show from 1957 provides a snap-shot of America fifty years ago.

Oh, if only we knew then, what we now see everyday that has resulted from this "birth control" (as it was called) movement. . . With the wisdom of hindsight, we know today, what we would have done then to prevent the horrific outcome of this small bit of yeast (not so long ago).

In this revealing interview, Sanger takes issue with the Catholic Church "hierarchy" concerning natural law, by saying "I think it's untrue and I think it's unnatural." Also, she says that the "hierarchy" has "the wrong attitude towards marriage." Very emphatically she states: ". . . how do they know? I mean, after all, they're celibates. They don't know love, they don't know marriage, they know nothing about bringing up children nor any of the marriage problems of life, and yet they speak to people as if they were God."

Sanger, the self-described feminist and humanitarian, gives several reasons in the interview in favor of birth control, including to relieve suffering from cruelty, to cause the population of the earth to be static (to save people from starving), even to prevent war (resulting from have-not countries attacking others for resources).

It's quite amazing to see, in one brief interview, Sanger demonstrate her beliefs on so many sexual morality issues, such as her praise for Havelock Ellis demonstrating that homosexuality is "not exactly a perverted thing."

At one point, Mike Wallace quotes Sanger from just days prior, concerning the Catholic Church teaching against birth control, saying "it's not only wrong it should be made illegal for any religious group to prohibit dissemination of birth control -- even among its own members".

Speaking about her own theology, Sanger touts eastern religions saying, "I feel that we have divinity within us, and the more we express the good part of our lives, the more the divine within us expresses itself."

And finally, to top it off, when asked about sinfulness, Sanger gives this well-rehearsed response: "I think the greatest sin in the world is bringing children into the world--that have disease from their parents, that have no chance in the world to be a human being practically. Delinquents, prisoners, all sorts of things just marked when they're born."

To read the entire transcript, CLICK HERE.

PS: If for no other reason, you'll want to watch the beginning and end of the film for the nostalgia of seeing Mike Wallace sell Philip Morris cigarettes (and smoke during the entire interview), and then to see Sanger tell Wallace that he had just convinced her to take up smoking, and that her brand will certainly be Philip Morris. Priceless!!