A coalition of black pastors plans to call on the Republican and Democratic parties to reject campaign spending from Planned Parenthood, claiming the abortion provider promotes a racist agenda.
The pleas, to be made in a demonstration outside the Democratic and Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, are the latest effort by the group to clamp down on Planned Parenthood, after an undercover inquiry by a college group revealed an alleged effort to target minority women for abortions.
The pastors are amplifying their argument that abortion, which its members call genocide, is a civil rights matter.
“We are very concerned that Planned Parenthood is targeting African American communities and African American babies,” said Alveda King, niece of Martin Luther King Jr.
She and Day Gardner, of the National Black Pro-Life Union, are leading the coalition of more than 50 pastors, who represent churches and anti-abortion organizations.
“Any candidate who continues … by accepting campaign contributions says that you’re not as concerned about civil rights for all people,” King told FOXNews.com. “It’s an anti-civil rights act to support Planned Parenthood.”
In response, Planned Parenthood released a statement saying it “does not tolerate racism of any kind.”
“For more than 90 years, Planned Parenthood has worked to address racial and economic bias in access to health care and ensure that all women receive care. We are committed to providing basic and preventative health services to women, men and teens, especially in underserved communities,” the group said.
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.
Planned Parenthood has pledged to spend $10 million on efforts to educate voters about women’s health issues and turn out 1 million voters in November for abortion-rights candidates up and down the ballot.
The group’s political action committee separately also plans to continue donating to candidates it supports, mostly in congressional races. The group’s national board recommended endorsing Barack Obama for president, but that decision has not yet been ratified by the local affiliates.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Planned Parenthood has contributed nearly $60,000 to candidates for federal offices — mostly Democratic House campaigns.
The pastors’ group last protested in April outside of a Planned Parenthood business in Washington, D.C., calling on the group to stop targeting minorities. Participants called on Congress to initiate an audit of the organization and take away federal funding.
The conflict took off after students at the University of California at Los Angeles newspaper, The Advocate, released a report for which an actor posing as a donor asked Planned Parenthood to earmark his contributions for “black babies” only.
In one taped conversation, an Idaho Planned Parenthood employee said that would be fine.
The caller responded: “Great, because I really faced trouble with affirmative action, and I don’t want my kids to be disadvantaged against black kids. I just had a baby; I want to put it in his name.”
The Planned Parenthood employee said, “Absolutely,” and even after the “donor” claimed that “the less black kids out there the better,” the employee continued to consent.
“Understandable, understandable,” she said, later adding that she was “excited” because a donor had never made that kind of request.
The Idaho chapter of the group apologized, but pastors said the report proved abortion and race are inextricably tied.
An April report from Students for Life America found black women are 4.8 times more likely to have an abortion than white women.
FOXNews.com’s Judson Berger and Kelley Beaucar Vlahos contributed to this report.
[24 June 2008, FOXNews.com, http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/06/24/black-pastors-call-on-parties-to-reject-planned-parenthood-money/]
REPRODUCTIVE RACISM: PLANNED PARENTHOOD TARGETS NATIVE AMERICANS WITH ABORTION. "The American abortion lobby claims to be an equal-opportunity abortion provider, looking out for the needs and wants of all women. Not so.
"Big abortion devotes an inordinate amount of attention to blacks, Hispanics and Alaska Natives who, in proportion to their population, have the highest abortion rates in America. Now… it is turning its sights on Native Americans.
The story begins with the Hyde Amendment, which restricts abortion coverage in federal health programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Indian Health Services, although leaving open the typical exceptions: rape, incest and life of the mother.
In other words, the amendment recognizes that a huge portion of American taxpayers oppose abortion and it respects that opposition by insisting that abortions not be covered by tax-funded health care programs. The Hyde Amendment was attached to the Department of Health and Human Services appropriations bill and passed in 1976." But the abortion industry is trying to remove this protection from the Native American funding bills. [http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jun/08060903.htmlLife Site News]