State president of NOW tries to defend Margaret Sanger from charges of racism

Becky Yeh’s article published on February 21, 2015 gave quotes from Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, that shed light on her racist and eugenicist views.  For example:

We don’t want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.

Yeh also mentions that Sanger spoke at a KKK meeting.

Although Margaret Sanger is hailed as a  hero among many pro-choice organizations, occasionally pro-choicers are forced to defend her from charges of racism- and this can be difficult, since we have so many examples of awful things she said. 

In this quote, Laurie Bertram Roberts, Mississippi State President of the National Organization for Women, attempts to respond to criticism of Sanger’s racism:

First of all, Margaret Sanger did not work on abortion. She worked on birth control. Context is everything. I will never deny that Margaret Sanger was connected to the eugenics movement, what they (abortion opponents) never bothered to say is that eugenicists also wanted to limit the birth rate of poor white people and disabled people. It wasn’t just Black people; it was a whole lot of people they deem to be unfit.

Well, there you have it. Sanger didn’t “just” hate Blacks, she also hated a bunch of other people too. You know, the poor and disabled. That makes it ok.

If this is the best pro-choice activists can do in defending Sanger, it’s pretty pathetic.

Source: Anna Wolf “Using the KKK to Fight Abortion Rights” Jackson Free Press April 16, 2014