by Jim Sedlak
Next month will mark the 100th anniversary of perhaps the most destructive force ever to be unleashed on the world. I’m speaking of the organization Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its founder, Margaret Sanger. In 1935, author H. G. Wells stated, “When the history of our civilization is written, it will be a biological history and Margaret Sanger will be its heroine.”
As we move closer to the anniversary date, we will look at several aspects of Planned Parenthood. This week, let’s focus just a bit on its founder, who died 50 years ago this month, but whose legacy still lives on in the organization.
Margaret Sanger brought to Planned Parenthood three basic philosophies that still drive the organization today. Her first philosophy was uninhibited sexual activity. Margaret believed that everyone should be free to engage in sexual activity with whomever they want, whenever they want. It made no difference if the individuals were married or even if they were married to someone else. Sex was to be enjoyed always, she taught. As a young adult, Sanger would attend discussion sessions at the home of Mabel Dodge in New York City. Dodge explained that each week a different member of the group would lead the discussion. She said that, whenever it was Sanger’s turn to lead, the discussions were always about sex. As Ellen Chessler noted in her book about Sanger, Woman of Valor, Dodge said that Margaret was “the first person I ever knew who was openly an ardent propagandist for the joys of the flesh.”
Planned Parenthood continues to push for uninhibited sex in its so-called “medically accurate” or “evidence based” sexuality education programs. As Planned Parenthood noted in its Oregon Team Report, which looked at PP’s success in Europe, the key to Planned Parenthood obtaining its objectives is “the openness and the acceptance that young people will have intimate sexual relationships without being married and that these relationships are natural and contribute to maturing into a sexually healthy adult.” Whenever you hear someone say that we will never stop teenagers from having sex, you must speak out against the claim, or Sanger and Planned Parenthood will have won another victory.
Sanger’s second philosophy was regarding family size. She encouraged small families, and considered a large family as anything more than two children. She even put forward a “Baby Code” for the United States in which she called for birthing licenses—with the government deciding when and how many babies a couple could have.
Needless to say, these first two philosophies created a conflict. Sanger wanted lots and lots of sex, but no babies. Her solution to this conundrum was birth control. Sanger is credited by many historians with coining the term “birth control” and she championed its use throughout her life. Despite writing publicly against abortion many times, Sanger considered it as a necessary part of birth control. It was Sanger, and one of her friends, who financed the development of the birth control pill, which prevents implantation of already-created human beings and thereby ends their lives.
Planned Parenthood continues to push for small family size and for the use of birth control. Although Sanger’s Baby Code was never implemented here, PP is a major supporter of the Chinese population control program that includes birthing licenses. PP continues to claim that abortion is needed as a backup for failed contraception. The fact that Planned Parenthood receives huge profits and an income of over $400 million a year from the sale of so-called contraceptives gives it every incentive to push these nefarious products on its unsuspecting customers. Planned Parenthood admits that it has committed over 7,000,000 abortions in its own facilities. In addition, PP has ended the lives of tens of millions of babies through its abortifacient birth control products.
Sanger’s third philosophy advocated eugenics—the purification of a race through selective breeding. Sanger believed the “unfit” people of the world should not be allowed to have children. Early in her career she invited Northrop Stoddard to serve on her board of directors. Stoddard was known for his book The Rising Tide of Color against White World-Supremacy. When Sanger opened the offices of the International Planned Parenthood Federation in London in 1952, the office space was donated by the English Eugenics Society and the furniture in the office was provided by the Race Betterment Society.
Planned Parenthood continues to push the eugenic philosophies of its founder. Since eugenics became an unpopular term in the 1940s, PP switched its rhetoric to address the phony “overpopulation problem.” There is now, and never has been, an overpopulation problem. But it was a convenient way for PP to hide its eugenics concepts under acceptable language. It is widely recognized at this time that the biggest population problem in the world today is too few children. The world has an aging population and Planned Parenthood’s solution is to support an individual’s right to euthanasia, to die with dignity, and the right to suicide.
Margaret Sanger’s philosophies run deep at Planned Parenthood, and our world is worse off because of her actions. We have rampant sexual activity among our young people, an acceptance of killing preborn children and old or handicapped individuals, and a body count that continually climbs with every passing day. Sorry, H.G. Wells, rather than seeing Sanger as a heroine, we believe author George Grant got it right in his book Killer Angel, where he described Sanger as “the progenitor of the grisly abortion industry and the patron of the devastating sexual revolution.”
Jim Sedlak is executive director of American Life League and founder of STOPP International. He has been leading the fight against Planned Parenthood since 1985.