What about now?

In her chapter The Dark Side of Birth Control Dorothy Roberts discusses birth control’s ties to the Eugenics movement in the US as a way to determine whether or not it is truly a racist tool. Initially, I was confused as to Roberts’ own view on the issue. She makes it clear that Margaret Sanger, the mother of birth control, was indeed an ally of the Eugenics group to the point that the American Birth Control League was a side project for the Eugenics movement. Roberts cites some disturbing quotations from the Eugenics movement such as, “…America is seriously endangering her future by making fetishes of democracy, equality, and universal education,” from E. Huntington’s review of Grant’s The Passing of the Great Race and, “it is better for all the world if, instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind” from the decision in Buck v. Bell (65 and 69). These are clearly racist remarks that Roberts includes so that the reader may understand the ramifications of Sanger’s alliance with the Eugenics movement.

Roberts, however, is also hesitant to condemn Sanger as a racist. She writes how Sanger wanted to avoid opposition from women’s and religious groups that focused on chastity, forcing her to seek support from the eugenicists. She also testifies that Sanger’s goals were about a woman’s choice, but the question remains throughout the article of what color woman should enjoy that choice and what color woman should not have a choice. This ambiguity allows the reader to decide for his/her own what Sanger’s purpose was in actuality.

Just like the reader, the black community decided for itself with mixed opinions. Some like DuBois believed that birth control signified opportunity for advancement whereas other black leaders like Francis or Garvey believed it was a new type of genocide or interfered with nature and god. Even today, black groups like www.blackgenocide.org believe that birth control and Planned Parenthood are tools to eradicate the black race. Take a look: http://www.blackgenocide.org/planned.html

Planned Parenthood, though it does not acknowledge its controversial roots on its website, does address the issue of race in its mission statement. It states, “Planned parenthood believes in the fundamental right of each individual, through the world, to manage his or her fertility, regardless of the individual’s income, marital status, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, or residence….we believe that reproductive self-determination must be voluntary and preserve the individual’s right to privacy…” Who are we to believe? If anything, we can take from this case the lesson that we are to question things we may even always accept as good. Here it is with the practice and implementation rather than the experimentation.