Dear Editor:
I read Mr. Gaines’s letter to you with a sense of incredulity. I am a former board chair and current board treasurer of Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania, the local affiliate of the Planned Parenthood Federation.
While I am not going to defend Margaret Sanger’s early writings, in her later life she worked with, for example, W.E.B. DuBois in an effort to bring birth control methods to African Americans living in the south. Also working on this project were Mary McLeod Bethune and Adam Clayton Powell Jr.
In 1966, Planned Parenthood Federation gave Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. its highest award, the Margaret Sanger Award. In accepting this award on behalf of her husband, Coretta Scott King stated “There is a striking kinship between our movement and Margaret Sanger’s early efforts…Our sure beginning in the struggle for equality by non-violent action may not have been so resolute without the tradition established by Margaret Sanger and people like her.”
I will let these examples and a multitude of other positive examples of Planned Parenthood’s work with the African American community speak for themselves. If one is to accept Mr. Gaines’s argument that the Pittsburgh Public School Board should not work with Planned Parenthood because of Margaret Sanger’s early writings, then no African Americans should live in the American south because the southern states embraced slavery and bigotry.
However I do agree with Mr. Gaines on one point: look at the School Board minutes from the February 25 meeting. The memorandum of understanding with Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania was in support of Planned Parenthood getting a grant to teach “It’s Your Game: Keep It Simple” in the public schools. This program is listed in the US Department of Health and Human Services list of evidence-based interventions shown to reduce risk behaviors that cause teen pregnancy, HIV and other sexually transmitted behaviors. The Board approved the memorandum of understanding by a 6–1 vote.
The program to be offered by Planned Parenthood is an education program. The program does not offer abortion services or contraceptive services. The program fills a void that school age children have concerning pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Perhaps Mr. Gaines fills that void by educating his children in these matters but I can assure you that other parents do not.
I commend the Pittsburgh Public Schools Board for recognizing this void and seeking trained, professional educators with a proven program to fill that void.
To Mr. Gaines, I say Don’t stand too close to that millstone when you throw it into the sea.
James E. Abraham
Pittsburgh
