Secretary Clinton Praises Margaret Sanger: 'In awe of her'

3/31/2009
California Catholic Daily (calcatholic.com/)

Secretary of State Clinton expresses admiration for Margaret Sanger and confusion about Our Lady of Guadalupe.

I admire Margaret Sanger enormously, her courage, her tenacity, her vision� 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.

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MEXICO CITY (California Catholic Daily) - A day before receiving the Planned Parenthood Federation of America�s highest honor � the �Margaret Sanger Award� � U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton paid a visit to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, leaving a bouquet of white flowers �on behalf of the American people,� and asking the basilica�s rector, �Who painted it?�

In response to Clinton�s question, basilica rector Msgr. Diego Monroy responded, �God!� The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was miraculously imprinted by Mary on the cloak of St. Juan Diego in 1531.

According to a report from Catholic News Agency, Msgr. Monroy received Clinton on Thursday, March 26, at 8:15 a.m. Msgr. Diego Monroy, reported CNA, took Clinton to the famous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which had been lowered from its usual altar for the occasion. After placing a bouquet of white flowers by the image, Clinton went to the quemador � the open-air area at the Basilica where the faithful light candles -- and lit a green candle. Leaving the basilica half an hour later, Clinton told some of the Mexicans gathered outside to greet her, �You have a marvelous virgin!�

The following day, Friday, March 27, Clinton was in Houston to receive the Margaret Sanger Award, named for the organization's founder, a noted eugenicist. Clinton, repeatedly interrupted by applause, cited several recent actions by the Obama Administration demonstrating that �reproductive rights� are a crucial element of the new president�s foreign policy.

�I was very proud when President Obama repealed the Mexico City policy,� she said, according to a transcript of her remarks released by the State Department. �As a result, nongovernmental organizations overseas can once again use U.S. funding to provide the full range of family planning services so that women and their families can get access to the healthcare that they need. President Obama�s decision on Mexico City� reflects a deep personal commitment to expanding opportunities for women�

"I am also pleased to tell you that we announced that the United States will once again fund family planning through the United Nations. We are going to fund a contribution of $50 million this fiscal year. That�s a 130 percent increase over our last contribution, which was made in 2001. Congress has also approved the Administration�s request for $545 million in bilateral assistance for family planning and reproductive health programs this year. And this is a significant increase over last year.�

Sanger, who founded Planned Parenthood and for whom the award Clinton received was named, was a proponent of eugenics, advocating selective breeding, sterilization and euthanasia. In 1932, Sanger urged �a stern and rigid policy of sterilization and segregation to that grade of population whose progeny is already tainted or whose inheritance is such that objectionable traits may be transmitted to offspring.�

In one of her first pamphlets, published in 1915, Sanger observed, �It is a vicious cycle; ignorance breeds poverty and poverty breeds ignorance. There is only one cure for both, and that is to stop breeding these things. Stop bringing to birth children whose inheritance cannot be one of health or intelligence. Stop bringing into the world children whose parents cannot provide for them. Herein lies the key of civilization. For upon the foundation of an enlightened and voluntary motherhood shall a future civilization emerge.� Sanger also advocated government coercion to stop the �unfit� from bearing children, saying, "The undeniably feeble-minded should, indeed, not only be discouraged but prevented from propagating their kind."

Nonetheless, according to the State Department�s transcript of Clinton�s remark, the secretary of state said, �I admire Margaret Sanger enormously, her courage, her tenacity, her vision� 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.�

- - -

This article originally appeared in California Catholic Daily and is reprinted with permission.

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1 - 10 of 26 Comments

Kaitara
1 year ago
Margaret Sanger is a Racist, and a member of the eugenics Society, whose sole purpose for getting rid of African Americans was birth control, and forced sterilization. Her own statements in books and publications said it was to control the "negro population" by deeming them, feebleminded, unfit, imbecile, and morons. Does Mrs. Clinton ever read a history book? The KKK asked Sanger to speak at their rallies. AT one such rally she was quoted as saying "We should hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities. The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We don't want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population. and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members." And "Eugenic sterilization is an urgent need ... We must prevent multiplication of this bad stock." And "The most merciful thing that a family does to one of its infant members is to kill it." And "Give dysgenic groups [people with 'bad genes'] in our population their choice of segregation or [compulsory] sterilization." Also "Birth control must lead ultimately to a cleaner race." Is this really the woman you are in AWE of Mrs. Clinton? Everyone needs to see the documentary Maafa 21 you can watch it free on the internet they will email you a code to stream it. After watch come back here and tell Mrs Clinton what you think of Margaret Sanger.
Eamon Hatley-Smith
3 years ago
Quote from Margaret Sanger, "What Every Girl Should Know", 1920, p. 47

"The lower down in the scale of human development we go the less sexual control we find... the aboriginal Australian, the lowest known species of the human family, just a step higher than the chimpanzee in brain development..." End quote.

The Australian Prime Minister apologized to the �stolen generations� of Aboriginal people recently in 2008.

What are his thoughts on Hillary Clinton and her being 'in awe' of Sanger considering Sangers racist attitude?

Kevin RUDD is at the G8 right now, and presented a copy of his �famous� apology, to aboriginal people, to the Pope.
John
3 years ago
So Mrs. Clinton got the Margasret Sanger award ! I am not surprised. Birds of the same feather fly together!!!
4 years ago
To increase harvest and ward off disaster, for a �better life�, the human sacrifice of innocents (mainly virgins) to false gods was the law of the 'rulers' in Mexico up to the 1500�s.

Arguably the modern version is similarly human sacrifice (little babies) to please false gods (what ever they may be) to have a �better life�.

Hopefully a modern outcome for human sacrifice will be similar to that in Guadalupe in the 1500�s.
Laura
4 years ago
With all respect it is the "tilma"
Holly
4 years ago
Bulbajer pardon me Im not being insulting but no one here is making fun of Mrs. Clinton here.
As I heard it she is Lutheran and Luther never gave up on the teachings of Mary.
If Mrs. Clinton is a Christian then most assuredly she would know Mary is the Mother of Jesus.
It doesnt matter that the Tilma is a reproduction it is still a reproduction from the original image attributed to God.
Mrs. Clinton also does not do any justice to being a Lutheran if this is what she was brought up to be.
Considering Luther had a great love of our Lady.
Its up to us to inform Mrs. Clinton of this error as Christians not in a judgmental way but a loving rebuttal.
Does it not say, "You cannot serve two masters." "Otherwise you will hate one and love the other."
Very serious consideration should be made here as to what and who you serve.
If Im not mistaken Mrs. Clinton paid tribute here in NYS to the Sufferagettes I believe out of Seneca Falls.
The only thing is Mrs. Clinton supports what they did yet she is Pro-Choice.
The original sufferagettes did not support abortion they were true Pro-life ladies.
So how we got here is very sad.
I hope the future has some wisdom for us.
This is all about population control it has nothing to do with whether we have enough people to support and take care of this society.
The governments are fanatic about keep population control down.
They dont care that one child must look after hypothetically 1-4 grandparents and possibly 1 or both parents in their lifetime.
So one reason why they are ushering in Euthanasia.
Very interesting hypothesis dont you think?
Carrie
4 years ago
To those who wish to paint Margaret Sanger as anything other than the evil she was, here are some other words for you.

She also wrote in her 1916 tome, Family Limitation:

"No one can doubt that there are times when AN ABORTION IS JUSTIFIABLE but they will become unnecessary when care is taken to prevent conception."

We've heard this very mantra recently from our current politicians, to the tune of a 150 million death count induced by the very procedure that birth control was supposed to eliminate.

Furthermore, it was also in this reproductive manifesto that Sanger advised women to douche with BORIC ACID and to take QUININE (which is a deadly poison) to "prevent implantation," - an odd view for someone RADICALLY against the "horrors" of abortion.

Lastly, we need to remember that the "abortions" she speaks of are the self-induced ones of the early 19th century, which stood a good chance of killing both mother and child. As such, she was far more concerned with the welfare of the mother, -she could give a damn about the infant. It was only in her later works that she came around to the idea that abortion of an infant was "taking human life", probably because it was a great angle to sell her distasteful message of preventing life in the first place. Pretty rhetoric and an skewed view of history can't obscure the undeniable outcome of this woman's agenda, - the cumulative lives lost in this country speak to it. To paint her any less than a monster is doing us, -and the truth, a great disservice.
Jim Kennedy
4 years ago
While I disagree with Planned Parenthood and am that unusual animal, a "pro-life" Democrat, I must correct the record by noting that Secretary Clinton was commenting not on the original "tilda," but on a reproduction of the image of the Virgin Mary, so her comment about "who painted it" was appropriate.
MarkV
4 years ago
For some reason (below), mark felt he needed to defend Margaret Sanger from an accusation of her being an 'abortion advocate.' This is patently false! In all fairness to the author of this article, there was no mention of such a claim within the article regarding Sanger's position on abortion, stated or implied. Yet to write such a comment with referenced quotes by Sanger gives the reader of this post the unfair and erroneous impression that such a claim was not only made, but needed to be corrected.
Bin
4 years ago
May GOD Be Praised By All, Everywhere, At All Times!

I have a simple question, did Mrs. Clinton read about Margaret Sanger before accepting the award? If yes, (that thought abhors me - especially about what she 'admired' abt Sanger), then why did she not read about Our Lady of Guadalupe?

Was her visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe only an eye-wash, to the Catholics? Did Catholics fall for it?

To ask, who painted the picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe, gives credance to the thought that she had only come for garnering support - from 'dumb' Catholics - who wouldn't know the difference.

Shall We Fall For It?

GOD Bless!

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