From “control” to “planning” how Planned Parenthood targeted blacks

In 1962, Wylda B. Clowes, a Black field consultant for Planned Parenthood and Mrs. Marian Hernandez director of the Hannah Stone Center, met with Malcolm X to “discuss with him his group’s philosophy concerning family planning”. They described the Black Muslims as a Negro nationalist group who recruit mainly “low income Negroes”.

A June 19, 1962 memo from Eugenics Society Vice President and one time Planned Parenthood president, Dr. Alan F. Guttmacher, describes the meeting, “[ Malcom X] responded in a positive way to the name [ Planned Parenthood] by saying that Black Muslims are interested in anything having to do with planning. He asked if Planned Parenthood has anything to do with birth control and offered the suggestion that we would probably be more successful if we used the term family planning instead of birth control. His reason for this was that people, particularly Negroes, would be more willing to plan than to be controlled…Throughout the interview it was apparent that Malcom X looked more favorably on the Maternal-Child Health approach and economic reasons for Negroes using our services. The mention of overpopulation reasons evoked questions on why major efforts to control population are directed toward colored nations , therefore this aspect was played down.”

On December 16,1965 a letter was sent to Rev. Andrew J. Young of the Southern Christian Leadership Council, to engage his support in the birth control / planned parenthood movement.

The letter is written on the University of Wisconsin Letterhead by an associate professor who begins by telling Young that his father was a sociologist in India aiding in population planning as a consultant with the Ford Foundation.

The professor also admits to Young that his mother and mother-in-law are “ardent workers for Planned Parenthood.”

He expressed to Young a, “fond hope for a marriage between the experts in birth control and the experts in the civil rights movement,” and sells it as, “one program that the civil rights movement would not have to finance.”

He expresses one hurdle to Mr. Young that would be the Negroes themselves, “ many Negroes will be justifiably suspicious of white organizations, white physicians, and white social workers that seek to “limit the Negro population.” It smacks of racism and can offend people who are understandebly sensitive on the matter. Planned Parenthood is itself relunctant to take any initiative for fear of the reaction from the Negro population as a whole as well as from civil rights leaders in particular.” He ends by suggesting that, “ it is crucial that Negro leaders in the movement introduce the project to their Negro followers so that whites are not in the mis-perceived position of racist aggression.”

In 1966, Dr. Alan F. Guttmacher, President of the Planned Parenthood Federation told a symposium at the University of California Medical Center that a sensitive area in the field of birth control was, “the belief that the white middle class was coercing their own poor and people with black and yellow skins to reduce family size because the middle-class whites are frightened of being outnumbered.”

“The only way the mounting feeling that birth control is a tool of racism can be handled, is to involve knowledgeable leaders from the minority groups who understand and are favorable to the philosophy of birth control. They, in turn, must translate their appreciation of the contribution which birth control can make toward family stability to their own people.”

A January 28, 1966 internal memo from Alan Guttmacher and Fred Jaffe, outlines the plan for winning over the Black Community. The memo begins by calling the new plan, a “Community Relations Program.” The “program” is to, “form a liaison between Planned Parenthood and minority organizations.”

The plan, according to Planned Parenthood, will emphasize that “all people have the opportunity to make their own choices,” rather than, as the memo states, “exhortation telling them how many children they should have.”

One way to get the message is out is to “ get assistance from black organizations like The Urban League and the AME church,” and according to the memo they need to employ, “ more Negro staff members on PP-WP [Planned Parenthood-World Population] and Affiliate’s staff, as well as recruit more Negro members for the National Board- at least 5.”

Along with this Guttmacher suggests that they initiate cooperation with the National Medical Association [NMA], a Black medical association, and encourage them to establish a committee on reproduction and family planning.

Guttmacher also hoped to “secure at least three Negro physicians for membership on the PP-WP Medical Committee, and he planned to invite NMA leaders to address their convention. Also on the radar was a comprehensive plan to address the Black media by, “specially developed news and feature articles for Negro newspapers.”

Guttmacher ends by stating that the above suggestions are “long overdue” but stresses, “we do not need to panic. In fact, if we panic and continue to publicize the “problem”, we may well exacerbate it”

NOTE: In 1968, Jaffe founded the PPFA Center for Family Planning Program Development, which later became the Guttmacher Institute, Planned Parenthood’s research arm.

On January 11, 1966, Lammont Du. P. Copeland sent a letter to Alan Guttmacher which contained the advice of Dupont’s Public Relations Representative, Mr. Glen Perry regarding the attitudes of the Black community toward Planned Parenthood.

Perry sought counsels from a black man who had been active with Planned Parenthood, Mr. Joseph Baker, who Dupont retains as a public relations adviser in the field of race relations.

Perry summarized the suggestions in a memo dated: January 10,1966, “Baker told us that Dr. Guttmacher is correct in feeling that civil rights leaders are beginning to take a hostile position toward population planning on the ground that it is an attempt to halt the growth of the Negro population.”

Baker strongly suggested to Perry that Planned Parenthood immediately open dialogue to the Black leaders, to “get their support and participation.”

Baker chastised a speech that Guttmacher made where he admitted some on the Planned Parenthood Board may be there solely for a racist agenda.

Perry writes, “[ Baker] was especially critical of Dr. Guttmacher’s admission that there might be some members of Planned Parenthood who had the political objective attributed to the organization by civil rights leaders. Such an admission could easily be taken out of context, and used to the detriment of the organization.”

Perry suggested that Guttmacher consider adding blacks to the Planned Parenthood board as well as the staff, he warns, “If this isn’t done, I’m not sure any amount of talk can convince the Negro leaders that this isn’t something being done to them by the whites rather than being done for whites and blacks by whites and blacks working together.”

Perry end by stressing that they need to “move quickly” to involve the black community.

On February 4, 1966 Mrs. Helen P. Stanford passed a copy of an article written in the Philadelphia Independent to Mrs. Naomi T. Gray. The memorandum was written on Planned Parenthood-World Population letterhead.

Stanford called the editorial “interesting” describing the writer as a young Negro lawyer who was a “member of our board here.” Stanford was critical of the writing style, but said that “ Still, there is food for thought here.”

The article written by Robert W. Williams, Jr. Esq., president and publisher of the Philadelphia Independent read in part, “There has been serious question of the motives of the Planned Parenthood Association, some opponents seeing in the organization’s work an aim of “containing” the Negro population or of even decimating it. They point to the concentration of interest,
by the Planned Parenthood Association virtually from the beginning, in the Negro ghettos of the major cities. And, let us admit it, it is not difficult to imagine that some racist might have seen the important of keeping the Negro race in America from becoming a larger minority than it already is…”

Williams goes on to defend Planned Parenthood, “The very people who seem least concerned about “oversized” families are also the ones who too often are least concerned about supporting them.”

Williams calls them “repeaters” and says they are both white as well as black. He then proposes a solution, “why not “limit” them, preferably by planned parenthood education —but, if this doesn’t work, perhaps sterilization is not to drastic for some “repeating” unwed mothers?”

In a 1966 Memorandum from Mrs. Miriam Manisoff to Dr. Alan Guttmacher entitled: Negro Attitudes Toward Family Planning, dated February 11,1966, Mrs. Manisoff mentions that questions were raised during a seminar on Planned Parenthood that showed the concern the Black Community had. One such question that came from a man in the audience asked, “How come you people only have clinics in Negro neighborhoods?”

In February of 1966, Sidney A. Hessel of the Planned Parenthood League of New Haven [CT.] wrote to Alan F. Guttmacher this letter (experts): “ Since the luncheon phase of the last board meeting I have been very much concerned. I do not know if your report was the bombshell to the others that it was to me, but the fact that the Urban League, NAACP, etc. were actively and vocally naming PP*WP [Planned Parenthood-World Population] a racist organization shocked me. I remember as long ago as 1935 hearing the then Catholic inspired reaction from the Negro community, “The whites want to keep our numbers down so they can rule us.” However, to hear this view point promulgated in 1966 by the leaders of the Negro group was a shock. More upsetting was the apparent acquiescent nod of the PP*WP spokesperson to the accusation. We can and should admit that our efforts have been geared toward the low socio-economic segment of the population-and probably the Negro population more than others…As to Negro board membership- Should a person be elected to the board because his skin is brown or yellow? Isn’t this also racism? Do the leaders of the Negro community have the time to give to Planned Parenthood over and above their other commitments? Let’s put the burden of cure on them and ask the leadership of the NAACP, CORE, the Urban League, etc. to submit names of qualified people to our nominating committee on the same basis as our affiliates…If we tell our story and stick to our viewpoint often enough we will be believed.”

In 1966, Planned Parenthood president, Dr. Alan F. Guttmacher praised the advice of Cecil Newman, the publisher of the Minnesota Spokesman and former board member of Planned Parenthood of Minneapolis, concerning Guttmacher’s concern that blacks viewed Planned Parenthood and birth control as genocide.

In a letter dated February 18,1966, from a mutual friend, Daryl Feldmeir managing editor of the Minneapolis Tribune, Newman offered this suggestion, which Guttmacher wholeheartedly approved, “If I were Dr. Guttmacher, I would find some of the top Negro clergymen with large congregations to serve on my board. They really command respect.”

On March 7th of the same year, Guttmacher thanks Newman, “Our mutual friend, Daryle M. Feldmeir, wrote me that he had discussed with you my concern about the racist reaction which seems to be springing up regarding Planned Parenthood. Actually the groups that seem the most vocal do not seem to be connected with the Black Muslim movement, to wit, the group of students at Berkley, calling themselves EROS and the NAACP in Philadelphia under the leadership of Cecil Moore.”

Guttmacher goes on to acknowledge Newman’s suggestion of placing clergymen on the board and asks him to submit three names.

On February 23,1966 while in Berkley California, Wylda B. Cowles met with Walter Thompson, head of EROS an organization that opposed both Planned Parenthood and Birth Control.

EROS stands for Endeavor to Raise our Size.

On March 28, 1966, Cowles reported to Planned Parenthood President, Alan F. Guttmacher, MD that EROS “interprets the underlying motives [of Planned Parenthood] as a means of accomplishing racial genocide.”

She described Thompson as a college graduate, articulate, and intelligent and said that she did not believe that Thompson was an “irrational, wild-eyed radical.”

Cowles acknowledged that Thompson’s goals were to “destroy Planned Parenthood” because his wife was insulted at a Planned Parenthood center.

In a letter dated March 7, 1966, Planned Parenthood President, Alan F. Guttmacher wrote to Mr. William Searle, VP of Marketing of the CD Searle Company telling him that he had been picketed by a group of very attractive young men, and noted that this was “just one of several manifestations of increasing racist apprehension in regard to birth control by minority groups, Mexicans, and Puerto Ricans.”

Guttmacher had a solution, he continued, “I am seriously considering adding to my staff a minority relations man or women from one of the minority groups, and since the largest is the Negro, probably someone of the Negro race. It would be his task to work not only with the conventional groups like the NAACP, CORE, etc. but actively to confront three militant groups and see whether or not we couldn’t persuade them of the error of their ways.”

Guttmacher then tells Searle that the “only thing holding me back is the lack of money.” Guttmacher than asks is Searle would be interested in supporting “such a unit”.

During a workshop on family planning at the March 21-24th, 1966 Southern Christian Leadership Conference (S.N.C.C.), Planned Parenthood’s field consultant, Mrs. Elsie Jackson reported to Alan Guttmacher that, “ As I had suspected the two S.N.C.C. workers came into the room with homemade picket signs (sheets of papers on their chests and backs). WE OPPOSE BIRTH CONTROL FOR NEGROES.”

Elsie Jackson described the response of other blacks who attended the conference as follows, “Immediately after the initial presentation and the short introductory film, the reactions were hostile and volatile:

“God is against abortion and family planning is abortion and killing.”
“ Let the government give us our rights…and we’ll take care of our children.”
“They brought us here to work when they needed us and used us even as studs to produce more and more when they needed us—now they say stop breeding—Hell, no—now we’ll do as we please—we are tired of being run and manipulated.”
“Birth Control is a plot just as segregation was a plot to keep the Negro down.”

She reported that two members of the group described birth control as the white man’s tool to weaken the race.

Jackson observes, “It is apparent that birth control—family planning—population control have been caught up in the mass ball that is looked upon as the power structure that has been planned and implemented against the Negro American by the white American. Where or when this happened no one could say, but birth control—family planning—Planned Parenthood is now viewed by many Negroes as part of the other side—that which represents itself as being against the eventual elevation of the Negro…

“[Birth Control – Planned Parenthood] is viewed as a potential enemy. ..One man who was vehement in his opposition was finally pacified when reassured that abortion was not a method of birth control approved by Planned Parenthood…It became obvious that one role of Planned Parenthood in the community is continued education in the principles and philosophies of our organization and continued contacts with the leaders of the people to reassure them of the integrity of our intentions and of our belief, interest and support of the principles and rights that minorities are interested in.”

In a memo from Naomi T. Gray, Elsie Jackson, Helen Stanford, and Wylda B. Cowles, Community Relations Program for Planned Parenthood-World Population, to Alan F. Guttmacher, PP President dated April 11, 1966 they write, “ there was a consensus at the staff retreat that the tax-savings approach as a rational for providing birth control services has generated mistrust of Planned Parenthood’s motives among some segments of minority group communities—especially the Negro. This approach coupled with the population control message has proved to be explosive. The question now is how to handle the situation in such a way as to improve Planned Parenthood’s image , and if possible, to prevent the generation of further mistrust.”

In 1967, Douglas Stewart, Director of Community Relations with Planned Parenthood World Population, noted in a memorandum to the Executive Directors ,Planned Parenthood Affiliates, and Regional Directors that at the July 21-23 Newark Black Power Conference the conference passed an anti-birth control resolution, “I was in attendance at the Black Power Conference held in Newark, New Jersey as a representative of Planned Parenthood –World Population. It is interesting to note that even though the conference passed an anti-birth control resolution, I was personally well received…” Stewart did make this suggestion, “I would strongly recommend that all “outreach” personnel be instructed to minimize discussions of population control in the minority group…”

That same year, the Pittsburgh branch of the NAACP charges that Planned Parenthood clinics, which provide the Pill and other forms of birth control in low income and minority neighborhoods, are devoted to keeping the black birth rate as low as possible. In a public statement the organization declares that birth control is being used as an instrument of racial genocide.

In a December 4, 1967 speech at Harvard University, Planned Parenthood president, Dr. Alan Guttmacher gave his views on abortion, “ I oppose abortion on demand, at least now for the United States, there are several reason. First, the public does not want it… only 20 % of the public favors abortion for single women… Abortion on demand relives the male of all responsibility in the sphere of pregnancy control..he becomes and animal…not far removed from the status of a bull…I favor liberalization of existing [ abortion] statutes…I would abort mothers already carrying three or more children…I would abort women who desire abortion who are drug attitudes or severe alcoholics…I would abort women with sub-normal mentality incapable of providing satisfactory parental care…”

In a letter from Helen P. Stanford (ACSW) to Mrs. Anne Huppman, Executive Director Planned Parenthood Association of Maryland dated May 14,1968, Stanford tells Huppman , “The charge of Black Genocide as it relates to PP [Planned Parenthood] is being heard more frequently, and I suspect there will be much more of this kind of feeling. This makes it all the more important for us in PP [Planned Parenthood] to focus a great deal of our attention on ways to reach poor urban whites, to put greater emphasis on fostering maternal and child care facilities and to push toward developing social services for family planning by the community. If our services can move in this direction , we will begin to erase the image of birth control , as a planned way of limiting blacks.”

Then the dame year that Planned Parenthood World Population approved unanimously a policy recognizing abortion and sterilization as proper medical procedures, they elect the first Negro as Chairman, Dr. Jerome H. Holland.

Holland pledged his support to the organization and said that those who called birth control a form of “genocide” , “ Are not aware of the real meaning of Family Planning and its uses.”

Planned Parenthood then used this BLACK MAN to introduce abortion into the organization:

That same years, Eugenics Society Officer Frederick Osborn, for thirty years the most important, wrote, “Eugenic goals are most likely to be attained under a name other than eugenics”

The Black Unity Party responded this way: “The Brothers are calling on the Sisters not to take the pill. It is this system’s method of exterminating black people here and abroad. To take the pill means that we are contributing to our own GENOCIDE”

Later that same year (1968) a family planning center in Cleveland was burned to the ground after militant Negroes had labeled it’s activities “black genocide”. The black publication The Nation reported that, “Organized opposition can be found in cities from California to New York.”

In Pittsburgh, Dr. Charles Greenlee a black physician and William Haden a community Activist forced the closing of a Planned Parenthood clinic in the Homewood-Brushton district and then warned that firebombings and riots would occur if any attempt was made to reopen the clinic. Such threats were taken seriously.

Then in 1969, Alan F. Guttmacher, President: Planned Parenthood-World Population, made this alarming statement, “I would like to give our voluntary means of opoulation control full opportunity in the next 10 to 12 years. Then , if these don’t succeed, we may have to go into some kind of coercion…”