What You Can Do on Planned Parenthood’s 100th Anniversary

This Sunday, October 16, marks the 100th anniversary of Planned Parenthood. It’s a sordid history. Planned Parenthood began as a contraceptive provider… but for all the wrong reasons. In the words of its founder, Margaret Sanger:

It has been conservatively estimated that no less than one quarter of the gross incomes of our states is expended upon the upkeep of asylums for the feeble-minded and insane, the mentally defective, the criminal, the congenitally defective, the delinquent and the dependent. We are spending billions, literally billions, keeping alive thousands who never, in all human compassion, should have been brought into this world. We are spending more in maintaining morons than in developing the inherent talents of gifted children. We are coddling the incurably defective and neglecting potential geniuses.

We have not chosen this Sisyphean task; it has been forced on us because we have left the production of American children to chance, instead of bringing this most important of all human functions within the sphere of choice.

Until the leaders of American business decide to cooperate in this analysis of our biological and racial problems we shall be at a loss to answer such critics as Luther Burbank, to whom American civilization is deeply indebted. In a recent interview he is quoted as asserting:

“America . . . is like a garden in which the gardener pays no attention to the weeds. Our criminals are our weeds, and weeds breed fast and are intensely hardy. They must be eliminated. Stop permitting criminals and weaklings to reproduce. All over the country to-day we have enormous insane asylums and similar institutions where we nourish the unfit and criminal instead of exterminating them. Nature eliminates the weeds, but we turn them into parasites and allow them to reproduce.”

 

Today, Planned Parenthood’s racist and ableist roots, and its hatred of the “weak,” are on display in its vehement promotion of abortion. Millions of preborn children have lost their lives in Planned Parenthood facilities. In recent years, Planned Parenthood has ruthlessly expanded its share of the abortion market, while reducing its provision of legitimate healthcare.

Pro-life advocates can respond in a number of ways:

• Protest your local Planned Parenthood celebration. Planned Parenthood affiliates are throwing parties and other events throughout the month of October. We hope to see a peaceful pro-life presence outside every one of them. Wealthy donors should be reminded of the horror their funds support. A map of celebrations can be found here. Note that some locations require you to sign up before revealing the address, like that’s going to stop us. Some are also holding their events in the middle of the work day.
• Protest at your local Planned Parenthood facility this Saturday, October 15. #ProtestPP, which organized the nationwide protests in the wake of the “baby parts” videos last year, is back to organize protests of Planned Parenthood’s 100th anniversary. Hundreds of locations are registered. Unfortunately, the event appears to be much more prayer-based this time around. We encourage secular participants to bring their own signs. 
• Submit a video. Rock for Life and Students for Life of America are teaming up to give Planned Parenthood a 100th “birthday present”—a video compilation of young people speaking out against Planned Parenthood. Want to be part of the campaign? Record a short video that begins “I am offended that Planned Parenthood…” or “Planned Parenthood offends me because…” and submit it to info@rockforlife.org or use the hashtag #rflstreetteam.