Seven separate Planned Parenthood affiliates across the country have issued statements on PP racism. Most noted PP was involved with historical racism AND that racism still permeates the organization today. Below are excerpts from the six statements (along with a link to the full statement). Many statements came from the organization, published on its website, not from one particular spokesperson.
Planned Parenthood of Greater New York
The removal of Margaret Sanger’s name from our building is both a necessary and overdue step to reckon with our legacy and acknowledge Planned Parenthood’s contributions to historical reproductive harm within communities of color … Margaret Sanger’s concerns and advocacy for reproductive health have been clearly documented, but so too has her racist legacy. There is overwhelming evidence for Sanger’s deep belief in eugenic ideology … Removing her name is an important step toward representing who we are as an organization and who we serve … we will
- Divest from and dismantle white dominant organizational cultural norms and values
- Adopt Individual and Institutional practices that value people of color
- Center communities of color voice, experience and knowledge of self
- Build accountable relationships with communities of color
Planned Parenthood of Pacific Southwest
- We must confront how white supremacy of the past and present continue in the institutions we are a part of today — including our own organization.
- We acknowledge how the faults in our history have manifested today, including the implicit bias within our own organization, and recognize that this is part of the problem.
Planned Parenthood of the North Central States
We are owning our organization’s history and are committed to addressing the implicit bias and structural racism within our organization and communities … Sanger’s promotion of eugenics was egregious and wrong … we are owning our organization’s history and are committed to addressing the implicit bias and structural racism that continues to exist within our organization.”
Planned Parenthood of California Central Coast
Planned Parenthood … is reckoning with racism in our history, and looking inward to address our historical inequities … Margaret Sanger, was a part of a eugenics movement that was rooted in ablest and racist ideals … We cannot condone that behavior. And we cannot ignore how her behavior and associations have shaped Planned Parenthood today … Planned Parenthood is committed to racial justice. We also recognize that we cannot address structural racism or white supremacy in this country and communities without addressing our own.
Virginia League for Planned Parenthood
We also acknowledge our past and our present participation in white supremacy and are committed to stopping, learning, growing and living our values through the hard and uncomfortable work of progress. As we mourn, we are also forced to take a look at ourselves and to reckon with change.
“Planned Parenthood Keystone is a proud affiliate of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. We acknowledge that our organization … is not exempt from structural racism and white supremacy. We have also denounced Margaret Sanger’s racist and ablest statements. We commit to dismantling institutional and structural racism and the very real ways racism affects the health of Black women.”
Racism pervades every aspect of our lives. It goes beyond the individual and individual actions. Racism exists in our public institutions, work spaces, schools, online, and within health care. Planned Parenthood is not exempt from that. It is important to look inward into how white systems of oppression continue to show up in the spaces we fill. We are being called to stand with the Black community against racism, oppression, and inequity. We urge our supporters to join us in the effort to dismantle the culture of white supremacy. We acknowledge our history, and will continue to learn and work towards being a more inclusive organization. Planned Parenthood Mar Monte stands with the Black community.
(Compiled for MarianBlueWave.com (Director: kbrown@all.org), October 2020 by STOPP International.
They should dismantle the stress on abortion and become a full-service facility that takes care of all forms of women’s health or go out of business.And stop taking government funds for the purpose of killing children.
So now PP wants the black community to believe how much they care about all of them, and how they can be trusted. In the meantime they continue to kill their children. Not rascist? Hardly! They do not care at all about the black community. They just want to continue killing as many babies as they can to make more money. All PP loves is their bottom line, and have no love nor compassion for the women who are in desperate need for support and guidance.
It is so interesting how cleverly these statements wordsmith for the public, while hiding their true meaning. Each denounces “white supremacy,” and the systemic racism that pervades Planned Parenthood, just as it supposedly pervades so many other white-led institutions and businesses. A dexterous piece of dancing around the elephant in the room, namely the killing, in inordinate numbers, of black babies and the failure to support black women who may want to choose life, but lack the financial or spiritual means to do so. One wonders if PP leaders will now place a “quota” on the number of black babies they abort, all in the name of fairness and equity, of course. A classic example of the Emperor’s new clothes and we are laughing through our tears.
I wonder how many women are asked by PP what kind of help they need so that abortion is no longer their #1 choice.