State Department official under fire for remarks about ‘feral populations’ and sterilization

Darren Beattie, the State Department’s acting undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, is being criticized for some alarming statements he has posted on social media regarding sterilization and population control.

The Independent reported on numerous odd and even disturbing social media posts authored by Beattie — some less than one year ago. In 2021, he wrote, “Interesting moral universe we live in where abortion is celebrated, but the notion of giving smart people incentives or cash to start families is so far out of overton window no sitting politician of either party would dare advocate it.”

He repeated a nearly identical notion again two years later. “The hierarchy of taboos is interesting,” he wrote in 2023. “The horrific practice of 2nd trimester abortion is legal in some places and well within Overton window of public discourse. But idea of offering feral populations financial incentives for voluntary sterilization is completely taboo.”

He also seemed to claim that population control doesn’t exist in real life, writing, “Where do these population reduction conspiracies come from? All I see is trash multiplying.” (In fact, many countries are nearing population collapse, with births remaining below replacement rate. It’s not a conspiracy theory.)

Later that same year, Beattie wrote, “When a population gets feral, a little snip snip keeps things in control. Could offer incentives (Air Jordans, etc.).”

READ: ‘Racist undertones’: Pro-eugenics arguments submitted in Supreme Court abortion pill case

In 2024, the idea of population control and eugenics was still one that Beattie seemed to be embracing. He tweeted, “Higher quality humans are subsidizing the fertility of lower quality humans. Foundational reality of social and political life in the post war west,” and added, “Population control? If only!”

Beattie had previously worked for the White House during the first Trump administration before being fired in 2018 for his participation on an H.L. Mencken Club conference panel with a white nationalist. In 2020, he founded Revolver News. Beattie has a Ph.D. and wrote his thesis on Nazi philosopher Martin Heidegger. According to the Washington Post, “Beattie has called Heidegger’s Nazi affiliation ‘highly troublesome’ but maintained that his work is worthy of scholarly attention, according to a report by Forward magazine.” The Post also reported in 2018:

Once White House officials were informed about CNN’s pending report, Beattie reportedly was confronted and urged to step down immediately. But he apparently refused to resign, arguing that he was not racist and that he had made uncontroversial academic points at the Mencken gathering. When it became clear that Beattie would not resign, the people familiar with the matter said, the White House terminated him.

Beattie’s remarks bear similarities to the eugenicist views of Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger. Such a worldview has had many horrifying outcomes — not just in the U.S., but around the world.

Forced population control has taken place in China, and is still having devastating effects on its populace, in addition to the country’s eugenics-based Uyghur genocide. Numerous western leaders have tried to force population control onto the people of Africa, with groups like Marie Stopes (now MSI International) administering long-term birth control to African children without parental knowledge or consent.

Eugenics laws in Japan also led to the involuntary sterilization of over 25,000 people by the government, with some sterilized as children. Many were not told they were being sterilized, but were led to believe they were being treated for legitimate illnesses.

The Australian Senate is investigating the forcible sterilization of disabled people, which was still taking place in the country as recently as 2021.

Police in Canada also refused to take action as recently as 2021 after an Indigenous woman was sterilized without her knowledge or consent by her doctor; over 60 Indigenous women sued the Canadian government itself for forcing them into sterilization.

In the United States, vulnerable populations are, even today, coerced or pressured into sterilization. One investigation found that doctors were routinely pressuring women with sickle cell disease, which primarily affects Black women, into sterilization. As of 2022, forced sterilization of the disabled is still legal in 30 U.S. states. Inmates have been pressured into sterilization as a way of receiving reduced prison sentences; similar efforts took place in California, with officials cruelly justifying the scheme by saying sterilization is “cheaper than welfare.”

A Virginia doctor was only convicted in 2021 after 40 years of forcing women into hysterectomies. A detention center in Georgia reportedly also employed a doctor who forced 17 to 18 immigrant women into unnecessary gynecological procedures; his end goal was to eventually have them sterilized without their knowledge or consent. He is said to have committed two sterilization procedures.

Countless more examples could be given, but the point is clear: pro-eugenics, pro-population control mindset shows disrespect for the dignity of all human beings.