Cancelling Margaret Sanger is only a start

I’m no fan of this insidious cancel culture that currently seems to be suffocating our nation with a spirit of self-righteous unforgiving. At the same time, Planned Parenthood in New York is distancing itself from Margaret Sanger, the founder of America’s leading abortion provider. They are changing the name of the building on a Lower Manhattan street that they say they are petitioning the city to de-Sanger as well. This is overdue — and, frankly, unexpected. For as long as I can remember, the country largely ignored protests about the eugenics poison she played a significant role in inserting into our national bloodstream (and international bloodstream as well, given that Planned Parenthood’s gravely ideological reach goes beyond our borders, unfortunately).

But that’s not enough. And it’s not to join in the beheading of statues and demands that historic figures be judged by our standards to insist that there be more of a cultural examination of conscience about this one. . . .

While Sanger’s name may be removed from public spaces, her legacy of destruction and dehumanization remains. Millions of children of color and poor children who were priceless are gone forever: nameless, unloved and buried in medical waste. Scrubbing Sanger’s name from an abortion clinic does nothing to improve — much less save — the lives of children who are maimed and killed or the women who have been sold the lie that they and their unplanned pregnancies are a problem to be solved.

In the case of Planned Parenthood and its political party (which extends beyond the Democrats, although the Democrats have resolutely pledged allegiance to their creed), making this Sanger reconsideration a healthy exercise would require taking a look at abortion itself and who it most affects, what it does to women and children and families. As a people, we cloak ourselves in all kinds of euphemisms when it comes to abortion — and other difficult issues. But how about talking to women about what abortion has done to them?