A coalition of black pro-life activists filed a racial discrimination claim against Planned Parenthood, asserting the organization has been targeting black women and babies for nearly half a century.
According to an announcement released last week at Christian Newswire, the National Black Pro-Life Coalition filed the racial discrimination claim with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS).
Catherine Davis, president of the Georgia-based Restoration Project, said in a statement:
Systemic racism and abortion intersect at the door of Planned Parenthood, an organization that has targeted Black women and their babies for almost five decades. These intentional actions violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which made it illegal for recipients of federal assistance to discriminate on the basis of race.
The coalition is asking the government to “investigate and hold Planned Parenthood accountable for their continuing violations of civil rights laws” since its services “have had a tremendously negative and lasting impact on Black women and children – and, overall, the Black family.”
The claim is filed nearly two months since 120 black pro-life leaders wrote to the CEO of Planned Parenthood, urging her “to confront the systemic racism of America’s abortion practices” and to “renounce the racist legacy” of her organization’s founder, Margaret Sanger.
Stephen Broden, of Protect Life and Marriage Texas, said in a statement that abortion “is a brutal form of population control.”
“Abortion has and continues to be a devastating and permanent blow to the Black community,” he added. “Our children in the womb are decimated. Women are scarred mentally, emotionally and physically – its malicious application disintegrates our families.”
Walter Hoye, founder of the Issues4Life Foundation, observed abortion has become “the leading cause of death for Blacks,” an outcome that has led to a 1.8 fertility rate, less than the 2.1 rate needed to replace the population.
“At this rate, by 2050 the total Black fertility rate will be 1.3 or lower, a rate that is irreversible,” he said.
In recent months, some Planned Parenthood employees have accused the organization of a racist environment in some workplaces.
Alexis McGill Johnson, the CEO of Planned Parenthood, said in response to the accusations of “misconduct, abuse, racism and more, do not align with Planned Parenthood’s standards or our values.”
“We are taking steps internally to address” the allegations, she added. “[O]ur country is in the middle of a racial justice reckoning – one that includes Planned Parenthood.”
However, in an updated statement Friday, the coalition observed:
The tangled, vicious and deceptive web Planned Parenthood has deeply embedded in the fabric of the Black community must be torn down now if Blacks are truly to experience a great America. The National Black Pro-Life Coalition prays HHS will move swiftly to end the targeting. More than 20,000,000 Black lives lost is enough.
“Where can members of the Black community turn for justice to end systemic racism if not to the entities funding it?” added Connie Eller of Missouri Blacks for Life. “Planned Parenthood receives more than a half billion dollars annually from our government. They have used that money to carry out their eugenic scheme of population control and it is time for it to stop.”
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