Cheesus crackers! How did these clowns get in touch with him?
On the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, the anti-choice community is taking the opportunity to insert Martin Luther King, Jr. into their crusade against Planned Parenthood. In an article published on the eve of the anniversary, anti-choice outlet LifeNews proclaims that “Planned Parenthood doesn’t share Martin Luther King’s dream.” And in a statement published this week, former Family Research Council head Gary Bauer asserts that if King were alive today, he would be an anti-abortion activist fighting against Planned Parenthood. On Wednesday, conservative outlets repeatedly touted quotes from King’s niece to make the case that the civil rights leader would have been pro-life and wouldn’t have supported Planned Parenthood.
Of course, decades after his death, it’s impossible to know what King’s modern-day motivations would be. But during his life, King was hardly a fierce opponent of Planned Parenthood or the range of women’s health services it provides. In fact, his support for the organization’s family planning programs is well-documented.
In 1960, King served on a committee for a Planned Parenthood study on contraception, explaining, “I have always been deeply interested in and sympathetic with the total work of the Planned Parenthood Federation.”
Well, now this is America and we all can have a point of view, that’s what makes this country great. But, all this revisionist history circulated by the Right wing about Dr. King is just really annoying.
