The Cathoholic

Margaret Sanger: Hillary's Hero

In late March, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton received an award from the Planned Parenthood Federation commemorating Margaret Sanger. Upon receiving the award, Clinton expressed her profound respect for Sanger, and told the gala audience:

"Now, I have to tell you that it was a great privilege when I was told that I would receive this award. I admire Margaret Sanger enormously, her courage, her tenacity, her vision. Another of my great friends, Ellen Chesler, is here, who wrote a magnificent biography of Margaret Sanger called Woman of Valor. And when I think about what she did all those years ago in Brooklyn, taking on archetypes, taking on attitudes and accusations flowing from all directions, I am really in awe of her."

Who was Sanger, and what personal beliefs led her to launch her birth-control campaign? Exhibit A is a fascinating Mike Wallace interview with Sanger conducted September 27, 1957. 

Wallace goes after Sanger's positions on a variety of topics, including the reality of sin, the role of children in marriage, and the morality of adultery and pre-marital sex. Wallace's willingness to clearly and fairly articulate the Catholic Church's position on contraception and the moral law feels anachronistic, given the propensity of today's media to put the church -- including an octogenarian pontiff -- on the defensive.  

On the other hand, Sanger's answers appear surprisingly contemporary: secular and deeply tolerant. Her enemies list is a short one: It includes the Catholic hierarchy and "delinquents, criminals..." This latter term, I'm guessing, is a reference to her eugenicist views regarding specific social groups that should avoid procreation for the sake of public order.   Sanger seems a bit crabby during the interview; she didn't know her social agenda would make it big time.

Hilary Clinton: "Reproductive health"=abortion

For more than a decade, Western European nations and NGOs with a feminist bent have pressed for the inclusion of "reproductive rights" and "reproductive health" into broader international documents establishing benchmarks for universal political, economic and social rights. 

Pro-life NGOs and nations have resisted this offensive, arguing that language like "reproductive health" is a codeword for abortion rights. They have warned that signatory nations with laws opposing abortion could be forced to legalize abortion or risk censure or even financial penalties, such as cuts in foreign aid. Feminists have scorned these concerns, arguing that pro-lifers are religious fundamentalists who seek to deny poor women basic rights. 

Here is a link to the UNFPA website that provides a typically benign definition of "reproduction health" -- with no mention of abortion.

Today, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton essentially confirmed what pro-lifers have argued for years. In an appearance before the House Foreign Affairs Commttee, she primarily responded to questions related to U.S. foreign policy regarding Iran. However, an exchange with two pro-life congressmen elicited a revealing response from the new Secretary of State.

Here is the relevant passage in the AP story on Clinton's appearance today before the congressional committee:

"Clinton was at her most emotional in batting down questions from Reps. Chris Smith, R-N.J., and Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., about the Obama administration's support for international family planning services. Smith and Fortenberry are among Capitol Hill's staunchest abortion opponents.

"Smith asked if the administration was seeking "in any way to weaken or overturn pro-life laws and policies in African and Latin American countries." Fortenberry asked: "Is forcing U.S. taxpayers to fund abortion in keeping with the highest values of the United States of America?"

"We have a very fundamental disagreement," Clinton told Smith, describing how she had seen women suffering in Africa, Latin America and Asia because of inadequate family planning and health care.

"It is my strongly held view that you are entitled to advocate, and everyone who agrees with you should be free to do so, anywhere in the world and so are we," Clinton said. "We happen to think that family planning is an important part of women's health and reproductive health includes access to abortion that I believe should be safe, legal and rare."

Now it's on the record: "reproductive health includes access to abortion."

Postscript: Later in the day -- during an interview on the NIH guidelines for embryonic stem cell research for the National Catholic Register -- I asked Smith about his exchange with Clinton. Here's what he said: 

"They’ve been stealthy about promoting abortion, ..and emphasize other issues on which people can agree. Now this reveals unambiguously that the U.S.  definition of reproductive health includes abortion." 

Check out the Secretary of State's speech at a late-March Planned Parenthood confab honoring her leadership. Clinton's remarks suggests that reproductive health will be front and center as she roams the globe and establishes policy at State. Clinton told the crowd: "I want to assure you that reproductive rights and the umbrella issue of women’s rights and empowerment will be a key to the foreign policy of this Administration."