The recent attempt from Planned Parenthood’s president and CEO, Alexis McGill Johnson, to distance the organization from its racist founder is essentially meaningless, says former NFL player Benjamin Watson.
“It is time for Planned Parenthood to take the next step, or their denunciation of Margaret Sanger rings hollow,” said Watson, who is vice president of Human Coalition, a non-profit dedicated to ending abortion in the United States. Human Coalition is affiliated with Human Coalition Action, a public policy advocacy organization.
“Whether [Planned Parenthood’s leaders] personally identify with Sanger’s ideology or not,” said Watson, “they continue to carry out her mission, by serving as the leading executioner of our children. The same Sanger they claim to disavow would applaud their efforts and results, as a disproportionate percentage of Black children have been killed in Planned Parenthood’s abortion clinics.”
Alexis McGill Johnson on Margaret Sanger
On April 17, the New York Times published an op-ed by Alexis McGill Johnson titled, “I’m the Head of Planned Parenthood. We’re Done Making Excuses for Our Founder.” The founder of Planned Parenthood was Margaret Sanger, and the subheading of McGill Johnson’s article states, “We must reckon with Margaret Sanger’s association with white supremacist groups and eugenics.”
McGill Johnson acknowledged that in addition to promoting eugenics, Sanger spoke to the women’s auxiliary of the Ku Klux Klan and conducted human birth control trials in Puerto Rico, “where as many as 1,500 women were not told that the drug was experimental or that they might experience dangerous side effects.”
“We will no longer make excuses or apologize for Margaret Sanger’s actions,” said McGill Johnson. Planned Parenthood is now attempting to distance itself from Sanger by acknowledging and condemning her “harmful choices,” as well as by renaming various awards and centers that formerly bore Sanger’s name. The steps the organization is taking include the following: