Black 'genocide': Christian leaders call on HHS to abolish Office of Population Affairs

By Samuel Smith, Deputy Managing Editor Sunday, January 20, 2019

Rev. Dean Nelson, founder of the Douglass Leadership Institute, (R) speaks during the Sudden Uprising conference held at Emmanuel Church of God in Christ in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 18, 2019. To his right stands Catherine Davis, who heads the Georgia-based Restoration Project. | PHOTO: THE CHRISTIAN POST

African-American pro-life leaders have long spoken out about the eugenic roots of organizations like Planned Parenthood, which was formed from abortion organizations founded by Sanger, one of the central figures of the birth control movement who called for the sterilization of “inferior races.”

The report will be the focus of a push by the Douglass Leadership Institute in the next year as it plans to host forums at churches in cities across the nation to spread awareness of the matter in black communities.

“I have been a part of the Frederick Douglass Institute for a long time and also the National Black Pro-Life Coalition. We would ask over and over and we would say that there is a problem with Title X,” Rev. Alveda King, niece of Martin Luther King Jr., told CP. “It is designed to eradicate a community. We knew that and so more and more questions were asked.”

Nelson also serves as national outreach director of the Human Coalition, a pro-life organization that operates women's care clinics throughout the United States. He said the inspiration for the report came after the Human Coalition was denied Title X funding.

Catherine Davis, who heads the Restoration Project, was also instrumental in compiling the report. She told CP that she got involved in this issue after her 30-year-old niece suffered three strokes because of complications from birth control.

“That fired me up to say we have to do something to say that this birth control nonsense is hurting women, not helping women,” Davis said. “The science shows that when you are suppressing the women’s ovulation, you are causing all kind of other issues with her body that wouldn’t happen if she wasn’t taking birth control. First and foremost, we need to get the government out of the family planning business.”

If the Christian leaders could have their way, they would entirely abolish the Title X program. But that would take an act of Congress. However, Nelson believes that President Donald Trump could use executive power to make some changes to the OPA.

Davis said she would rather have the Title X funds designated to groups that counsel women and do not profit from abortions and contraception.

“One of the first things Trump did after he was sworn in was reinstated the Mexico City Policy,” Davis said. “In that memorandum, he directed the Department of Health and Human Services to enforce that memorandum internationally. Why aren’t we doing that domestically?”

What is happening to the African-American community, Davis said, would qualify under the Proxmire Act’s definition of genocide.

“That act made genocide a crime in the United States,” she said. “Point number five in the definition of genocide that ‘takes measures to prevent births within a group.’ This is what we feel Planned Parenthood has been doing.”

Ryan Bomberger, who runs the pro-life nonprofit education research institution The Radiance Foundation, told CP that the racial history of the OPA is evident.

“To understand why something exists, there was motivation and you look at Richard Nixon and you look at the Nixon Tapes, it is undeniable that his motivation was not altruism when it comes to Title X funding, particularly targeting contraception toward low-income people,” Bomberger said. “The Office of Population of Affairs, this is all just birthed out of population control and it has never changed.”

“In 2019, we have to revisit these things and revise and acknowledge what things really are,” Bomberger added. “In the end, it is still the same-old population control. It is still writing off groups of people as ‘lesser than.’ I think it is worth revising and perhaps rejecting what currently is.”

As the theme of the Sudden Uprising conference is “moving from education to activation,” Nelson explained that the report was really the first step in the push create an uprising of opposition to the OPA.

He is hopeful to work with the Trump HHS to figure out the best way to proceed. A petition to the White House to abolish the Office of Population Affairs can be found here.

King, who has been a vocal supporter of Trump and has been in the Oval Office for three bill signings since he took office, expressed optimism of what Trump could be capable of.

“Stranger things have happened. I believe OPA is not infallible. With the right efforts people will see the truth and demand that it be changed,” she explained.

“I believe that President Trump, being a businessman, a very practical man desiring an America that is very safe and sound for generations to come … will take a look at this particular issue and study, which he has already done when he looked at the Mexico City Policy and very clearly said to do the same thing here in America. That is happening and that is an indication that more is to come.”