Officials with Planned Parenthood of Greater New York said they will remove founder Margaret Sangerâs name from a Manhattan clinic because of her connections to eugenics.
âThe removal of Margaret Sangerâs name from our building is both a necessary and overdue step to reckon with our legacy and acknowledge Planned Parenthoodâs contributions to historical reproductive harm within communities of color,â Karen Seltzer, the chair of the New York affiliateâs board, said in a statement on Tuesday.
Sanger founded Planned Parenthood in 1916 when she and two others established the countryâs first birth control clinic in Brooklyn. Sanger was a noted supporter of eugenics, a movement based on improving human civilization through selective breeding, and published an article in 1919, titled âBirth Control and Racial Betterment,â among other published pieces and speeches.
âBefore eugenists and others who are laboring for racial betterment can succeed, they must first clear the way for Birth Control. Like the advocates of Birth Control, the eugenists, for instance, are seeking to assist the race toward the elimination of the unfit. Both are seeking a single end, but they lay emphasis upon different methods,â Sanger wrote at the time.
A spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Greater New York said in a statement that removing Sangerâs name is a step âto address historical inequities to better serve patients.â
âPlanned Parenthood, like many other organizations that have existed for a century or more, is reckoning with our history, and working to address historical inequities to better serve patients and our mission,â spokeswoman Melanie Roussell Newman said.
Anti-abortion advocate Lila Rose tweeted about the move, saying the Planned Parenthood that Sanger founded âpales in comparison to the atrocities the corporation does today.â
âThe evil that Margaret Sanger started when she founded Planned Parenthood 100 years ago pales in comparison to the atrocities the corporation does today,â Rose tweeted. âEvery day, Planned Parenthood kills 900 babies. 900 irreplaceable, precious human lives destroyed.â
The evil that Margaret Sanger started when she founded Planned Parenthood 100 years ago pales in comparison to the atrocities the corporation does today.
Every day, Planned Parenthood kills 900 babies.
900 irreplaceable, precious human lives destroyed.https://t.co/7k3HEOiByP
— Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) July 21, 2020
Planned Parenthoodâs decision comes at a time of national discourse on the country’s history with race and how to move forward. Amid protests and riots denouncing racism and police brutality, some are calling for statues of historical figures tied to slavery to be brought down and companies, such as Quaker Oatsâs Aunt Jemima brand, to scrub logos deemed racist.
