Los Angeles, Calif., Feb 28, 2008 / 18:07 pm
The Advocate, a student magazine at UCLA, has released phone recordings of Planned Parenthood fundraising staffers approving of a donor who claimed he wanted his money to help "lower the number of black people."
The magazine conducted a seven-state investigation to discover how Planned Parenthood fundraising centers would respond to a caller who expressed explicitly racist motives.
An actor posing as a racist donor called Planned Parenthood development centers asking that his donations be used to abort African-American babies to "lower the number of black people." Each branch agreed to process the racially earmarked donation. None expressed concern about the racist motives for the donation, and some staffers encouraged the racist reasoning.
In a phone conversation with an Idaho Planned Parenthood office, the actor stated, “the less black kids out there, the better.” Director of Development Autumn Kersey called his position “understandable” and indicated she was excited to process his donation since she had never had a request “like this” before. An Ohio representative, Lisa Hutton, after hearing the donor’s racist explanation said that Planned Parenthood “will accept the money for whatever reason.”
The Editor-in-chief of The Advocate, UCLA sophomore Lila Rose, is leading a student campaign petitioning UCLA to end its ties with Planned Parenthood. Her campaign has won the support of Dr. Alveda King, the niece of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Rose’s previous work in The Advocate has been featured on The O’Reilly Factor and national radio. Rose said she is hopeful that regardless of their position on abortion, students can unite to combat Planned Parenthood’s racism both past and present.
UCLA senior Jose Manaiza, who was a 2007 nominee for the UCLA Student of the Year award and winner of the 2007 UCLA Chancellor’s Service Award, called upon his fellow African-American students and the entire UCLA student body to "commit to this new era of the Civil Rights Movement and fight any type of racism from Planned Parenthood."
A video of the investigation’s phone calls is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eygv8qEkiFE