A Republican gubernatorial candidate from North Carolina, Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest, used an event honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to rail against Planned Parenthood.
Like many Conservative Christians, Forest falsely claimed that Planned Parenthood's mission was to eradicate the Black population.
Forest said:
"There is no doubt that when Planned Parenthood was created, it was created to destroy the entire Black race. That was the purpose of Planned Parenthood."
"And that's just the truth...How the Black community can't come together to see that and understand the fight against ― I don't know."
"How the White [community] can't see that and come together ― I don't know, and so we have a job to do. And the challenge to all of us is do we have the courage to do it?"
He later echoed the rhetoric on Twitter.
The facts speak for themselves. Since 1973, 19 million black babies have been aborted, mostly by Planned Parenthood… https://t.co/XRz5YkDny1— Dan Forest (@Dan Forest) 1579656268.0
The gubernatorial hopeful was echoing talking points from numerous anti-choice activists that Planned Parenthood was designed to limit the Black population. It was founded by Margaret Sanger—a devout eugenicist—but Sanger was actually against abortion, and Planned Parenthood didn't perform abortions during her tenure as its leader.
What's more, Planned Parenthood facilities didn't start performing abortions until Roe v. Wade was settled in the Supreme Court—years after Sanger died.
Forest's own rhetoric indicates that he cares about Black people and other people of color only when he can disguise his own causes as concerns for them. Forest is also apparently forgetting that asking Black people to abandon all institutions whose roots were founded in disenfranchising them would mandate a disavowal of nearly every mainstream entity in the United States, including the U.S. government itself.
Forest said at a church service last year:
"[God] wants us to bring people together and live in the world like the Acts 2 church did. And yet no other nation, my friends, has ever survived the diversity and multiculturalism that America faces today, because of a lack of assimilation, because of this division, and because of this identity politics."
People weren't buying Forest's latest campaign ploy.
Conservatives are using a really complicated history to push an insidious agenda. They claim they want to stop blac… https://t.co/e0WWzxgCpS— rocket juju 🚀 (@rocket juju 🚀) 1579661359.0
@DanForestNC Seriously you spend all day locking up black people and under funding our school but now we are suppo… https://t.co/GH2RtoYcOY— Laura Anthony (@Laura Anthony) 1579668767.0
A prime example of ignorant people putting other ignorant ass people in office. This is a damn shame and embarrassm… https://t.co/zFRDuFlODM— PoliteSouthernHelle (@PoliteSouthernHelle) 1579656478.0
@lannadelgrey @HuffPostWomen @PPFA Oh, wow another member of the GOP that’s so concerned by the plight of the Black… https://t.co/Ux1PA3TFBP— Harper Miller (@Harper Miller) 1579657420.0
@DanForestNC That’s 19 million times a Black woman was able to choose what she thought was best for her life at tha… https://t.co/aV6WkYHLOP— DefCLT (@DefCLT) 1579660456.0
Shame on Dan Forest. This dangerous rhetoric is untrue and makes women less safe. I believe in healthcare rooted in… https://t.co/ArjV3gYaGz— Terry Van Duyn (@Terry Van Duyn) 1579649748.0
@lannadelgrey @HuffPost @PPFA More politics.— Sheldon Beatty (@Sheldon Beatty) 1579662396.0
Today is the 47th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.