Ruth Institute President Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, Ph.D., called Planned Parenthood’s announcement that Margaret Sanger’s name will be taken off its Manhattan clinic “an important gesture, but still just a token. In New York City, there will still be almost as many abortions of black children each year as live births.”

With the renewed emphasis on removing vestiges of past racism, it’s hard to ignore Sanger’s history. “The mother of the U.S. population control movement – who’s often described as an abortion pioneer – was a dedicated eugenicist,” Morse explained. “As such, she believed in keeping down populations she considered ‘racially inferior.’ That meant non-whites.”

Sanger made no attempt to hide her beliefs. Even Adolf Hitler was aware of her views. She was one of only two Americans he praised, along with anti-Semitic conspiratorialist Henry Ford.

“If she was alive, Margaret Sanger would be thrilled by the effect of abortion in the United States,” Morse noted. “African American women account for roughly 13% of the total population, but 38% of all abortions performed in this country. It’s been conservatively estimated that since Roe v. Wade, more than 20 million abortions have been performed on African Americans – more than the entire black population of the United States in 1960.”

Sanger’s views aren’t confined to a benighted past. In 2009, Associate Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, one of the Court’s most liberal members, said that one reason for Roe was “concern about population growth and particularly growth of populations that we don’t want to have too many of.”

“Who was she talking about, I wonder?” Morse asked sardonically, “Blue-eyed, blondes?”

“Taking Sanger’s name off its Manhattan clinic changes nothing. Planned Parenthood will still locate its clinics in poor minority neighborhoods. People of color will still suffer disproportionately from abortion. Besides, helping poor people means expanding their opportunities, not killing their children,” Morse charged.