Prometheus 6

Planned Parenthood’s Two-Faced Racism Exposed
Posted by Joe on Mar 1st, 2008

Recently, a Planned Parenthood executive in Idaho was caught on tape by an anti-abortion group agreeing to a contribution from someone posing as an avowed racist who wanted to increase abortions for African American women so as to increase the chances for college of the caller’s supposed white children. The PP executive accepted the offer of a contribution with eagerness. It is hard to know which is the worst aspect of this story to comment on. On the one hand, we have a white executive not criticizing an aggressively racist philosophy presented on the phone apparently in order to secure a nice contribution. On the other hand, we have an anti-abortion group intentionally and hypocritically making use of a racist-framed call in order to generate bad publicity for an organization that has played a key role in working for the rights of women in the United States. In neither case do we see real white concern for the problems of everyday racism faced by black women in the United States. The insensitivity of both sides is nearly incomprehensible. Planned Parenthood’s state and national offices issued apologies for the racist incident relatively quickly. The fact is, this kind of “sting” could probably have been conducted at any white liberal non-profit and gotten the same result. The point is the pervasive two-faced racism, especially in “backstage” settings where only whites are present, not the racially selective reproductive policies of Planned Parenthood.

Me, I focus on the anti-abortion group. See, I read the transcript of the call...you know that bad habit I have of judging folks as humans...

WHAT WAS SAID

Autumn Kersey of Planned Parenthood in Boise: Good afternoon, this is Autumn.

Donor: Hello, Autumn, I'm interested in making a donation today.

Kersey: Fantastic!

Donor: What about abortions for the underprivileged minority groups?

Kersey: Oh, absolutely. We have, um, in fact, uh wonderful, fantastic news. We just received a very generous donation to our women in need fund.

Donor: Wonderful. I want to specify that abortion to help a minority group - would that be possible?

Kersey: Absolutely.

Donor: Like the black community for example?

Kersey: Certainly.

Donor: OK, so the abortion I can give money specifically for a black baby, that would be the purpose.

Kersey: Absolutely. If you wanted to designate that you wanted your gift to be used to help (an) African-American woman in need, then we would certainly make sure that that gift was earmarked specifically for that purpose.

Donor: Great. Because I really face trouble with affirmative action, and I don't want my kids being disadvantaged, you know, against black kids. I just had a baby; I want to put it in his name, you know.

Kersey: Mmhmm, absolutely.

Donor: So that's definitely possible.

Kersey: Oh, always, always.

Donor: So I just wanna - can I put this in the name of my son?

Kersey: Absolutely.

Donor: Yeah, he's trying to get into colleges, and he's going to be applying, you know, he's justwe're just really bighe's really faced troubles with affirmative action.

Kersey: Mmhmm.

Donor: And we don't, you know, we just think, you know, the less black kids out there the better.

Kersey: (Laughs) Understandable, understandable. ... Um David, let me, if I may, just get some sort of specific general information so we can set this up the right way. You said you wanted to put it in your son's name, and you would like this designated specifically to assist (an) African-American woman who's looking to terminate a pregnancy.

Donor: Exactly, and yeah, I wanna protect my son, so he can get into college.

Kersey: All right. Excuse my hesitation, um, um, this is the first time I've had a donor call and make this kind of request, so I'm excited, and I wanna make sure I don't leave anything out.

Transcript released by The Advocate

That "laugh" wasn't a joke laugh. That hesistation strikes me as an "Oh god, a nut job, let me get him off the phone" response.

All supposition on my part.

But a sane person would know it wouldn't work. And Planned Parenthood will not shanghai a pregnant Black woman and abort her child against her will anyway. IF you really can earmark a donation to serve Black women, it will serve a woman who wants the help and the racism of the donor has no impact in the end.

Now, Planned Parenthood of Ohio has apologized

"A fundraising employee violated the organization's principles and practices when she appeared to be willing to accept a racially motivated donation," said CEO Rebecca Poedy in a written statement. "We apologize for the manner in which this offensive call was handled. We take full responsibility for the actions of the fundraising staff member who created the impression that racism of any form would be tolerated at Planned Parenthood. We took swift action to ensure that each of our employees understands their responsibility to communicate clearly with donors about the fact that we believe in helping all individuals, regardless of gender, race, or sexual orientation, make informed decisions about their reproductive health care."

Which means either my assumption that Ms. Kersey was suckered is wrong or they don't think on their feet quickly or something.

But I'd have taken the money.