African American former Planned Parenthood Board Member accuses them of Black Genocide

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Former Planned Parenthood Board Member Knows the Truth

As a pastor’s daughter raised in the church, I knew little about abortion. But I did believe—and debated in the college cafeteria—that every woman had a “right to choose.” When abortion became legal in 1973, the consensus was that a certain freedom had finally been granted to women. Yet how many of us really knew exactly how abortions were performed?

My journey to the board of Planned Parenthood began with my involvement in a group called the Coalition of 100 Black Women, a New York City-launched socially conscious organization composed of businesswomen, politicians, and civic leaders. They wanted to empower a young voice, and although I was among the less exposed and less experienced, they voted to send me as their delegate to the first International Women’s Year conference held in Mexico City in 1975. When a speech I made received media coverage back home, I was greeted with my organization’s applause along with invitations to join two boards—the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) and Planned Parenthood.

I attended my first board meeting filled with anticipation. It was quite a short bus ride from the mid-town office where I worked as an editor over to the Margaret Sanger Clinic, named after Planned Parenthood’s founder. Over time I noticed that several of the board members arrived in chauffeured limousines. Who were these men of wealth, I wondered, and why were they so interested in the people who lived in the inner-city?

Once in the building. I walked past the clinic that served primarily African-American and Latino girls. The elevator took me upstairs to an imposingly large boardroom, and I took my seat with the striking observation that I was the only person of color in the room. The majority of board members were male, and the handful of women appeared to be much older than my twenty-seven years.

During the course of my five-year tenure, we received a lot of literature. Most discussed population control and the concern for the growing number of people in the world—poor people in the United States and in developing countries. As the population grew, natural resources like air, water, and food were shrinking. I soon understood why the full name for this organization was Planned Parenthood World Population. I struggled with the question, “Which population are they trying to control?” As a black woman, the question kept coming back to me like a boomerang. I wondered why abortion was more necessary for my ethnic group, why this organization fought so hard to give us this particular “right” when the rights for better education, better jobs, and better housing seemed paramount.

Early in my volunteer service on the board, I learned about the biggest challenge that Planned Parenthood of New York City faced. For every abortion that was performed, a death certificate had to be issued by the Department of Health. They wanted to reverse this law. Death certificates? Does that mean the babies were alive? Like millions of other Americans, I debated about when life really begins. When is the fetus viable? When can it live on its own? Abortion could not be murder if, indeed, all that was aborted was a “mass of tissue.”

Part of our responsibility as board members was to become familiar with abortion procedures. We read documents detailing how abortions were performed, and for me, that’s when the viability debate ended. I learned of two kinds of abortions—saline and dilation and evacuation, also called D&E. I would later learn about a third type, late-term or partial-birth abortion.

In saline abortions, babies inhale a salt solution that is introduced into the womb. The mother experiences premature labor and delivers a dead, burned baby. In instances where the baby is born still breathing, he or she is placed into a plastic bag, which is then sealed, and the baby is suffocated.

The dilation-and-evacuation abortion literally tears the baby apart limb by limb. The instrument used, insanely called a “straw,” is actually a powerful suction device. It is inserted into the mother’s uterus, where it searches for an arm or leg of the baby. Once it latches on, it tears that limb from the baby’s body. Each limb is subsequently torn apart and suctioned, or “evacuated.” Since the head is too large to pass through the nozzle of the “straw,” the doctor has to insert an instrument that looks much like a clamp. It grasps the baby’s head and crushes it into smaller pieces, which are then evacuated. A nurse puts all the pieces of the baby onto a nearby table, reassembling the body to make certain that all parts have been successfully removed from the uterus.

I was horrified. I came to the next meeting shaking with disbelief and filled with protestations. Holding up the papers, I said that these procedures were traumatic for both the mother and her baby.

An older woman sitting directly across from me looked me coldly in the eye and said in a low, rabid voice, “It is not traumatic!” I was stunned by her insensitivity and chilled by her icy stare.

I was on the verge of resigning from the board. Now that I understood what was really involved, I wanted no part in this abortion business. But the question, “Who will speak up if I leave?” kept me in a quandary. Eventually deciding to remain, I determined to be a thorn in their side and often cast the lone opposing vote.

Dr. LaVerne’s tenure as a Planned Parenthood of New York City board member from 1975-1980 resulted in her becoming an avid pro-life advocate. She is an expert in abstinence education and teen pregnancy prevention. Her latest book is “Keeping You & Your Kids Sexually Pure: A How-to Guide for Parents, Pastors, Youth Workers and Teachers.”