Washington D.C., Apr 2, 2009 / 11:25 am
In an impassionate address to the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Congressmen Chris Smith (R-NJ,) argued that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the speech delivered immediately after, in Houston, Texas, during Planned Parenthood’s Margaret Sanger Award were completely inexcusable.
Smith said that Clinton’s visit to the Catholic Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, where she presented a bouquet of flowers on behalf of the American people, was “a very nice gesture.”
But the gesture was at odds with her speech while receiving the Margaret Sanger Award.
“In her remarks, Secretary Clinton said she was ‘in awe’ --I repeat, ‘in awe’-- of Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood.”
“To our distinguished Secretary of State, I respectfully ask: Are you kidding? In ‘awe’ of Margaret Sanger, who said in 1921, ‘Eugenics…is the most adequate and thorough avenue to the solution of racial, political, and social problems’ and who also said in 1922, ‘The most merciful thing that a family does to one of its infant members is to kill it’?” asked Congressman Smith.
He went on to say that Secretary Clinton in her speech said that Margaret Sanger's “life and leadership” was “one of the most transformational in the entire history of the human race.”
“Mr. Speaker, transformational, yes. But not for the better if one happens to be poor, disenfranchised, weak, a person of color, vulnerable, or among the many so-called undesirables who Sanger would exclude and exterminate from the human race.”
According to the New Jersey Representative, “the juxtaposition of last week's two very public events in Mexico City and in Houston bring into sharp focus two huge and irreconcilable world views.”
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“On the one hand, the miracle of Our Lady of Guadalupe has for five centuries brought a message of hope, faith, peace, reconciliation and protection for the weakest, most vulnerable among us. On the other hand, each year, Margaret Sanger's Planned Parenthood kills approximately 300,000 unborn baby girls and boys in their abortion clinics scattered throughout the United States,” he added.
After briefly narrating the story of the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Smith continued: “last Thursday, Hillary Clinton visited the shrine. On Friday, she paid homage to Planned Parenthood and to Margaret Sanger. Margaret Sanger is the founder of Planned Parenthood. She was a self-described pro-abortionist eugenist and a racist who considered charity care for impoverished, disenfranchised women, including women of color, especially pregnant women, to be ‘cruel’.”
Smith extensively quoted little known, terrifying passages of Sanger’s writings, loaded with racism and contempt for the poor.
“The most serious charge that can be brought against modern benevolence is that it encourages, and I say this again, the perpetuation of defectives, delinquents, and dependents,” was one of Sanger’s statement quoted by the NJ representative.
“Which begs the question, Mr. Speaker. Is our Secretary of State unaware of Margaret Sanger’s inhumane beliefs? Was she not briefed on Margaret Sanger’s cruel and reckless disregard for poor, pregnant women? Respectfully, Secretary Clinton should at a minimum return the Sanger award.”
“More importantly,” continued Smith “Congress and the White House must at long last take a long, hard, second look at the multimillion, almost billion, dollar corporation called Planned Parenthood – Child Abuse Incorporated.”
“There is nothing whatsoever compassionate, benevolent, ennobling, benign, or empowering about abortion. It is a violation of a child's fundamental human rights.”
“I strongly urge my colleagues to take that second look at Planned Parenthood. It is time to respect the value and the dignity of all human life,” he concluded.