STOP THE PRESSES. Planned Parenthood boss Alexis McGill Johnson has evidently discovered the racist roots of Corporate Abortion… but has not yet come to terms with its current racist business structure targeting communities of color.
In an op-ed at the New York Times, McGill Johnson wrote:
“Up until now, Planned Parenthood has failed to own the impact of our founder’s actions,” Alexis McGill Johnson wrote. “We have defended Sanger as a protector of bodily autonomy and self-determination, while excusing her association with white supremacist groups and eugenics as an unfortunate ‘product of her time.’”
As a reminder, Planned Parenthood kills 972 innocent children of every race and background every single day. It is no doubt easier for Planned Parenthood to discuss and own up to the historical racism of its long-dead founder than to confront the reality of its daily mass slaughter and the fact that it disproportionately kills Black children in some of the most vulnerable American communities.
But McGill Johnson failed to acknowledge that Planned Parenthood’s problems are not limited to the past. The abortion vendor’s current trajectory is equally disturbing.
It’s why Students for Life of America and various pro-life organizations have repeatedly drawn attention to Planned Parenthood’s racist present. Four out of five Planned Parenthood vendors are within walking distance of minority neighborhoods, according to a Supreme Court amicus brief and a Life Issues Institute/SBA List Education fund study. That’s not an accident.
Consider this: Since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in 1973 more Black babies than the number of Black citizens in 1960 have been killed in abortion.
Though they are only 13% of the female population, African Americans made up 38% of all abortions tracked by the CDC in 2016.
In Planned Parenthood’s own words, minorities make up almost 40 percent of their patients. It is no surprise that a business founded by a racist ends so many Black Preborn Lives.
“We don’t know what was in Sanger’s heart, and we don’t need to in order to condemn her harmful choices,” McGill Johnson wrote. “What we have is a history of focusing on white womanhood relentlessly.”
Even though the abortion vendor is still guilty of perpetuating the “harmful choices” that Johnson alluded to, the Planned Parenthood president offered no apology, nor did she promise any changes to the fatal violence her organization perpetrates on the Black community (or any community). McGill Johnson’s op-ed is little more than grandstanding and deflection.
“Whether our founder was a racist is not a simple yes or no question. Our reckoning is understanding her full legacy, and its impact. Our reckoning is the work that comes next.”
If Johnson were sincere about reckoning with her organization’s racism, she would direct Planned Parenthood to immediately stop perpetrating abortion killings in minority communities. But she has explicitly stated that she has no intention of ever directing Planned Parenthood to cease its violence. At the end of last year, the Planned Parenthood boss characterized abortion violence as a “critically important part of what we do.” When asked in an interview whether her org would ever stop committing abortions, McGill Johson replied without hesitation, “Absolutely not. No.” She has not recanted these statements with her new feigned umbrage over her organization’s racism.
“Sanger remains an influential part of our history and will not be erased,” said McGill Johnson, “but as we tell the history of Planned Parenthood’s founding, we must fully take responsibility for the harm that Sanger caused to generations of people with disabilities and Black, Latino, Asian-American, and Indigenous people.” It’s no surprise McGill Johnson doesn’t define what she means by “take responsibility.”
Taking responsibility at Planned Parenthood would involve making changes to ensure history doesn’t repeat itself instead of just talking about the past. The truth is that Margaret Sanger could never, in her wildest dreams, have envisioned the devastation that Planned Parenthood is inflicting on the nation’s people of color. Planned Parenthood’s racism today is leading to the deaths of countless unarmed Black children.
McGill Johnson repeatedly and tiresomely repeats the assertion that Planned Parenthood is actively dealing with its racism, when it is not. “We will no longer make excuses or apologize for Margaret Sanger’s actions. But we can’t simply call her racist, scrub her from our history, and move on,” McGill Johnson explained. “We must examine how we have perpetuated her harms over the last century — as an organization, an institution, and as individuals… Planned Parenthood has an obligation to change how we operate,” the abortion vendor’s president wrote. “We must take up less space, and lend more support. And we must put our time, energy, and resources into fights that advance an agenda other than our own.”
Yawn. Until Planned Parenthood stops killing people for money — including a disproportionate number of Black children — it will be incapable of reckoning with its racism. Alexis McGill Johnson could choose to change the trajectory of Planned Parenthood’s violence and make reparation for its egregious harm by using its resources to heal instead of kill. Planned Parenthood could choose to offer real healthcare, real service to vulnerable minority groups, and real community engagement. But as the abortion vendor’s death toll climbs and McGill Johnson repeatedly doubles down on the organization’s fealty to abortion, it is clear that Planned Parenthood’s trajectory is not headed toward racial reckoning, nonviolence, or peace.
Those of us who have been calling out Planned Parenthood’s racism for decades are not satisfied by the abortion behemoth simply distancing itself from its distant past and dead founder. The organization’s present and its continued trajectory of violence are more concerning than its past. We will continue to demand justice against Planned Parenthood until it stops killing our Black brothers and sisters and American children of every race and background.
If Johnson wants her apologies to be seen as more than a performative kowtow to her political and ideological allies, then she needs to take immediate action by stopping the racism and violence immediately and for good.
