Black preachers condemn Margaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood: 'Nothing is more racist in America'

By Samantha Kamman, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, August 01, 2024

Screening of 'The 1916 Project' at the Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia, on July 22, 2024. — Screening of "The 1916 Project" at the Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia, on July 22, 2024. | Samantha Kamman/The Christian Post

LEESBURG, Virginia — Black faith leaders featured in "The 1916 Project," a documentary about Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger and her influence on society's views on sexual morality, urged black pastors to oppose abortion during a segment of the film highlighting Sanger's views on race and eugenics.

White Rose Resistance screened "The 1916 Project" last Monday at the Cornerstone Chapel, one of many churches nationwide planning to screen it this year.

The documentary's title refers to the year Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in the United States. It is also an allusion to The New York Times' "The 1619 Project," which critics argue presents an inaccurate, anti-American view of history.

White Rose Resistance Founder Seth Gruber answers questions about 'The 1916 Project' documentary during a screening at Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia, on July 22, 2024. — White Rose Resistance Founder Seth Gruber answers questions about "The 1916 Project" documentary during a screening at Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia, on July 22, 2024. | Samantha Kamman/The Christian Post

The film featured interviews White Rose Resistance founder Seth Gruber conducted with faith leaders and historians on a series of topics, including abortion, birth control, Sanger's history and what the documentary called "the secular moral revolution."

Two faith leaders Gruber interviewed for the documentary were John Amanchukwu, the youth and young adult pastor at North Carolina's Upper Room Church of God in Christ, and the church's Bishop Patrick L. Wooden Sr.

Wooden condemned Sanger and declared that he would not endorse any politician who praises the Planned Parenthood founder. Wooden said the role of black pastors is "to preach God's truth with power and authority and without compromise."

"In my opinion, what we're seeing is too many ministers being influenced by political parties," Wooden said. "And many preachers today are more Democrat than they are Gospel preacher when it comes to things like preaching against abortion, the slaughter of the unborn."

"Nothing is more racist in America than the abortion industry," he added.

Amanchukwu also bemoaned an unwillingness on the part of black ministers to speak out about Sanger, stating that many have instead become "parrots" for Planned Parenthood.

The outspoken faith leader described Sanger's agenda as "wicked," arguing that the Planned Parenthood founder intentionally sought to destroy the United States' black population and those she deemed "unfit."

Gruber cited Sanger's endorsement of the Supreme Court's 1927 decision in Buck v. Bell, which allowed states to sterilize people deemed 'unfit' without their consent.

He highlighted other controversies surrounding Sanger's views that resulted in Planned Parenthood distancing itself from the organization's founder in 2021, citing her association with white supremacist and eugenicist groups.

In 1939, Sanger sent a letter to birth control advocate Dr. Clarence Gamble describing one of the most controversial campaigns in the birth control movement called "The Negro Project."

Sanger wrote about the need for black ministers to help lead the project and gain the trust of African American communities, writing, "We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members."

While some defenders of Sanger argue that the Planned Parenthood founder merely used the language of racists to help advocate for birth control, critics still contend that many would classify Sanger's views as racist and ableist today.

Amanchukwu recounted a conversation he had in 2020 with a black man while he was praying outside of a Women's Choice abortion facility. The man was wearing a "Black Lives Matter" shirt, according to Amanchukwu, and he asked the youth pastor, "Why are you out here fighting a white man's issue?"

"Now, I was taken aback when he said that because a majority of people out there praying, trying to save the babies, are white," Amanchukwu said. "But the majority of the moms in the clinic prepared to abort their babies, they're black, including this gentleman's girlfriend."

"But he could only see a racial issue in that I was over there with the white people, trying to worship and pray and save babies," the youth pastor said.

White Rose Resistance, a pro-life organization founded by Gruber, is named after a youthful resistance movement against the Nazi regime in Germany. During the Third Reich, White Rose members, including Hans and Sophie Scholl, distributed leaflets condemning the Nazis and urging German citizens to cease to remain apathetic to the regime's actions.

Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman