By Jim Sedlak
Planned Parenthood is racist. Pro-lifers have spoken those words about Planned Parenthood for decades. The claim is usually followed by a description of actions or statements by Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood. All too frequently, Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s supporters have dismissed those claims.
All that changed in June 2020.
This past June, employees of Planned Parenthood of Greater New York made public an open letter to their board of directors documenting the internal racism of their Planned Parenthood affiliate and their president/CEO, Laura McQuade. This was followed by a supporting statement from employees of Planned Parenthood Great Plains documenting similar internal racism in their own affiliate under the same president/CEO. Following employee complaints, McQuade was removed from that affiliate and given the same job at PPGNY. Her compensation went from $226,499 in 2017 at PPGP to $428,321 in 2018 at PPGNY.
National impact
Although the happenings at PPGNY seemed originally to be a local matter, it suddenly exploded into a nationwide admission by Planned Parenthood affiliates of being racist organizations. So far, 19 Planned Parenthood affiliates have issued public statements admitting to being racist today. In making these statements, the affiliates referred to their organizations as being guilty of “white supremacy” (12 times), “structural racism” (10 times), “implicit bias” (six times), and “systemic racism” (five times).
The 19 affiliates operate in all or part of 33 different states, including seven of the 10 most populated states. Every one of the affiliates commits surgical or medical abortions. The 19 affiliates include the largest in the Planned Parenthood empire: Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, Planned Parenthood of Greater New York, and Planned Parenthood of the Greater Northwest and Hawaiian Islands, which also manages Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky.
With all of these documented admissions of racism by Planned Parenthood itself, it is no longer just pro-lifers accusing Planned Parenthood of racism. It is Planned Parenthood, itself, admitting it is racist. With that admission, it is clear that any individual, corporation, or organization that supports Planned Parenthood is also racist. Let us not be afraid to say so.
Finally, Planned Parenthood Federation of America conducted a study of racism within the national office. The results show the national office is filled with internal racism. The organization is filled with racism and white supremacy from top to bottom. Yet, it claims to be friends of the minority communities.
Planned Parenthood executives responded to all these revelations by promising to make changes. However, as documented in our report, Planned Parenthood employees are not buying it. They don’t think anything will change.
Below are some relevant quotes (emphasis added):
An employee at the PPFA national office observed: “This assessment was great but, what’s next? This assessment took three years to do. Are we gonna have to wait another three years before they implement any policies?”
Another PPFA employee stated: “I don’t trust them to make these changes, because Planned Parenthood is filled with people who, because they do work in reproductive rights, think they can’t be racist or prejudice [sic], but keep saying and doing racist things, and nothing is being done about it.”
A PPGNY employee was even more pessimistic: “After years of complaints from staff about issues of systemic racism, pay inequity, and lack of upward mobility for Black staff, highly paid consultants were brought in three separate times to assess the situation. Each time, employees of color were brutally honest about their experiences, but nothing changed.”
Bottom line—104-year-old Planned Parenthood is now, and always has been, a racist organization. Despite all the admissions of Planned Parenthood’s racist and white supremacist operations across the country in the last five months, the black president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America had the temerity to write her supporters in November and bemoan that “racism plagues our country in ways that keep black and Latino communities from living full, healthy lives.”
Step number one in eradicating reproductive racism among communities of color is to close down every Planned Parenthood facility in the country.
With all admissions of racism documented in our latest report, it is clear that any individual, corporation, politician, or organization that supports Planned Parenthood is guilty of racism. Let us not be afraid to say so.
Jim Sedlak is executive director of American Life League, founder of STOPP International, and host of a weekly talk show on the Radio Maria Network. He has been successfully fighting Planned Parenthood since 1985.