Congratulations to The Palm Beach Post for their op-ed last Sunday "To have fewer abortions, stop subsidizing the lies." The editorial denounces Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) and takes the position that CPCs should not receive public funds. We have previously highlighted the lies and deceitful tactics used by these health-center-imitators, but it bears repeating until funding goes to medically-accurate programs (instead of zealots who believe that stopping abortion justifies lying to and harassing women).

The L.A. Times also has a great article on CPCs framing the anti-abortion message to the African American community—that they must stop the "black genocide." CPCs are increasing their presence in urban minority communities and raising suspicion about Planned Parenthood (often one of the few sources of reproductive health services in underserved communities). Pro-choice organizations have built relationships with minority communities and churches and now anti-abortion groups are trying to break those bonds. Some of their messages are so extreme as to seem satirical (emphasis mine):

Antiabortion activists are fighting back with their own appeals to black pride. In particular, they target Planned Parenthood's founder, Margaret Sanger, as a racist intent on eliminating people of color. One popular flier—recently mailed to 10,000 homes in minority neighborhoods in Waco, Texas—declares, "Lynching is for amateurs" and compares "Klan Parenthood" clinics to Nazi death camps.

Sanger did associate with proponents of eugenics, the philosophy that only the most worthy should be allowed to reproduce. But she did not support coerced birth control; civil rights leaders, including King, embraced her work.

Sadly, one of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s nieces tours the country and co-opts his message to use against abortion. You can watch a video of her on YouTube, if you want to lose a tiny piece of your soul (I can't bear to embed it in this post … but if you do watch, notice that she implies she had an abortion—so apparently it was ok for her, but now she'd like to prevent that right for anyone else).

For more on the L.A. Times article, check out the posts by Ann at Feministing and Tracy Clark-Flory at Salon.com's Broadsheet.