Pastors Blast Planned Parenthood's Racial 'Genocide'

It's not surprising that pro-life black preachers would want the presidential candidates to refuse all contributions from Planned Parenthood. But one group of black preachers including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s niece, Alveda King, has stepped out to label Planned Parenthood a racist organization and accusing them of participating in the genocide of black babies.

Now this is a highly incendiary charge. And most social workers serving African American communities defend Planned Parenthood's work in black and underserved communities. However, it's the biography of Planned Parenthood's founder Margaret Sanger and a recent donation solicitation scandal that created fertile ground for accusations of racism and genocide grow. ...The Hill blog recaps:

Earlier this year, students at the University of California, Los Angeles taped phone calls of Planned Parenthood representatives accepting donations for black women's abortions, even when the callers made racist statements about reducing the black population. The pro-life movement has argued that these calls reflect racism on part of the organization, also citing the disproportionate number of Planned Parenthood clinics located in minority neighborhoods. Planned Parenthood publicly apologized for the way it handled the calls in February.

Planned Parenthood responds:

The women's health care and contraception provider told FOX News in April that its role in black communities is greater because the need is greater. The group issued a statement citing statistics from the Centers for Disease Control that showed black teenage girls are far more likely than other teenage girls to contract sexually transmitted diseases, and that the teen birthrate among black teenagers rose 5 percent in 2006.

And then there is the problem of founder Margaret Sanger's beliefs that black people were genetically inferior to whites. Sanger is cited for referring to blacks and immigrants as "...human weeds,' 'reckless breeders,' 'spawning... human beings who never should have been born."

Still, with the out of wedlock, teenage birth rate rising it is hard to argue that at least in terms of providing no cost/low cost educational services and birth control, Planned Parenthood provides a much needed service.