22 Jan 2007 Black Activists Outraged Over Liberal Merger of Abortion and Civil Rights

Inclusion of Planned Parenthood in a self-described civil rights coalition has outraged members of the black leadership network Project 21, as Planned Parenthood advocates and provides abortions – particularly in the black community.

“How can a civil rights group that claims to support underprivileged blacks embrace an organization created expressly to hasten the demise of black people?” asked Project 21 Chairman Mychal Massie.  “People of conscience should be appalled and outraged by this alignment.”

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America recently became a member of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), a political coalition of almost 200 groups representing liberal racial, gender, age, disability and religious special interests as well as labor unions.  The LCCR is most often known in recent years for its opposition to judicial nominees who adhere to an orginalist interpretation of the Constitution.

The founding of Planned Parenthood, originally founded as the National Birth Control League in 1916 and later called the American Birth Control League before adopting its current name in 1942, is largely credited to Margaret Sanger.  In the late 1930s, Sanger began a program known as the “Negro Project” that sought to improve public health and welfare by encouraging abortions in the black community.  This agenda was promoted in part by befriending black ministers.

In announcing the new affiliation, Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington president and CEO Jatrice Martel Gaiter said her group and the LCCR now “share a dedication to promoting human rights” as well as alleged “committed to justice and equality.”  LCCR president Wade Henderson added that Planned Parenthood was “one of the nation’s leading health care advocates” and that “health care reform is the next frontier for the civil rights movement.”

In a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press released in August of 2006, 70 percent of surveyed blacks of the Protestant faith believed that abortion should be more limited than it is today or made totally illegal.

“The civil rights movement in America has been stifled for many years by poor leadership and an inability to focus on the real issues that hinder progress.  By getting into bed with a nearly billion-dollar organization so vocal in professing its desire to increase risky behaviors without an eye to consequences, the LCCR has taken a giant step backwards in promoting true civil rights in America,” said Project 21 member Djana Milton.  “The alliance between Planned Parenthood and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights foretells the beginning of the end for an improved state of affairs for black America and those who still seek the realization of their civil rights.  A house whose foundation is rotten cannot stand for long.”

Project 21, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization sponsored by the National Center for Public Policy Research, has been a leading voice of the African-American community since 1992.  For more information, contact David Almasi at (202) 507-6398 x11 or [email protected], or visit Project 21’s website at http://www.project21.org/P21Index.html.