In a recent interview, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards characterized her behemoth abortion business as the “Fandango of reproductive health care.” By that, she meant that the group’s marketing skills are so good that Planned Parenthood is (supposedly) viewed by women as the go-to merchant for reproductive commodities like birth control and abortion. According to Richards, 6 million people visit Planned Parenthood’s website every month. Whether or not this is true – Richards has been known to blatantly lie on national television without a trace of scrupulosity– the boast speaks to Planned Parenthood’s desire to market product (and not even high quality product, at that).
Planned Parenthood’s marketing tactics are a huge reason for the abortion conglomerate’s success (that, and the $500 million they receive out of your taxpaying pocket every year). In pursuit of customers, the “nonprofit” is aided by fawning public figures, dishonest media outlets, your children’s public schools, and the fungible nature of your very generous tax contributions. And, in spite of what pundits like Richards (who pockets a half-million dollar annual salary) claim, customer acquisition – not “concern for women”– is the overarching objective of the money-centric organization.
Richards made another surprising statement in the interview: she mentioned Planned Parenthood’s founder, Margaret Sanger, by name. Richards probably thinks that Americans are oblivious to Sanger’s disturbing history, and that no one will notice if she nonchalantly characterizes Sanger as a women’s rights champion. But Sanger’s own writings speak a very different attitude than the one assigned to her by Richards.
In fact, Sanger is a figure whose actions had much more to do with radical ethnic cleansing ideals (think Hitler) than about aiding women at large, as Planned Parenthood circa 2015 would have us believe. Although Richards characterizes Sanger as an activist who fought to liberate women by placing birth control and abortion within reach, Sanger’s overt goal was to expand birth control and abortion access in order to halt the growth of populations she viewed as unworthy of Life. Although Planned Parenthood is perpetuating this insidious goal in modern times, the group’s tandem objective is to leach funding out of any and every source to which they have access—women, teenagers, men, taxpayers, public schools, private nonprofits… and the list goes on.
If Richards continues to offer such candid interviews, perhaps more people will notice what Planned Parenthood has demonstrated time and again: women’s health is not the primary concern.