Politics

Planned Parenthood Responds To Kanye’s Criticism: ‘Offensive And Infantilizing’

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Mary Margaret Olohan Social Issues Reporter
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Planned Parenthood responded Wednesday to criticism from rapper and presidential candidate Kanye West, saying that “any insinuation that abortion is black genocide is offensive and infantilizing.”

West discussed his presidential ambitions in an interview with Forbes published Wednesday in which he denounced Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider. (RELATED: Kanye West Sends, Then Deletes Pro-Life Tweet Defending Unborn Babies)

“Planned Parenthoods have been placed inside cities by white supremacists to do the Devil’s work,” West said.

West’s comments may be a reference Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger, who had a history of pro-eugenics comments and spoke of targeting black communities with birth control through “The Negro Project.”

In a statement to TMZ, Planned Parenthood’s Director of Black Leadership and Engagement, Nia Martin-Robinson, emphasized that black women are free to make their own decisions and “deserve to have access to the best medical care available.”

“Any insinuation that abortion is Black genocide is offensive and infantilizing,” Martin-Robinson told TMZ. “The real threat to Black communities’ safety, health, and lives stems from lack of access to quality, affordable health care, police violence and the criminalization of reproductive health care by anti-abortion opposition.”

West also posted a tweet Wednesday night that showed images of unborn babies and the text “[t]hese souls deserve to live.”

West’s since deleted tweet showed an image of a Google search bar with the question “what does a 6 month fetus look like” accompanied by several images of unborn babies in the womb.

Planned Parenthood did not respond to requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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