Martha Burk, Margaret Sanger and the Neo-Nazi

by Dan Coyne

Commenting upon Augusta National Golf Club's decision to admit only male members, superfeminist Martha Burk recently stated, "When the KKK comes on your side, you have officially lost all argument." Let's put the Burk Principal to the test.

Burk is chairman of a radically pro-abortion outfit called the National Council of Women's Organizations. Planned Parenthood is one of the member organizations of the NCWO. In 1926, Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, was a guest speaker at a KKK rally in Silverlake, New Jersey. Yes, it appears the KKK has been on the side of Burk and the radical feminists for quite some time. Applying the Burk Principal, the feminists have "officially lost all argument" since at least 1926.

Sanger's keynote address at a Klan rally was not a mere aberration. The racist roots of the modern, pro-abortion feminist movement may come as a surprise to some, but if you listen closely to the likes of Burk and Sanger you will begin to understand. If you doubt this historical link, compare the thinking of a modern racist with that of a feminist heroine. The ADL website provides the following profile of Tom Metzger, the one time leader of White Aryan Resistance:

Tom Metzger, a television repairman from Fallbrook, California, has been a leader in organized bigotry for more than 25 years...He has been widely acknowledged as the principal mentor of the neo-Nazi skinhead movement since its appearance in America during the mid-1980s; in this connection, he attracted nationwide publicity in 1990, when an Oregon jury rendered a $12.5 million judgment against him and his son, John, for inciting the murder of an Ethiopian immigrant by skinheads. Today, although still paying the judgment, Metzger continues to cultivate a following through his monthly newspaper, WAR - White Aryan Resistance, a Web site, a telephone hotline, an e-mail newsletter, and other media.

Margaret Sanger, on the other hand, was voted one of Time Magazine's 100 Leaders & Revolutionaries for the 20th Century. She is an inductee into the American Nurses Association Hall of Fame and the National Women's Hall of Fame.

One is a "heroine" of the 20th Century. The other is a modern villain. So identifying which one of these two said what ought to be quite easy. Right? Well, try your luck – it may be tougher than you think. Here are six quotes, some by Sanger, some by Metzger:

1. "We do not want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten that idea out if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members."

2. "Covertly invest into non-White areas, invest in ghetto abortion clinics. Help to raise money for free abortions, in primarily non-White areas. Perhaps abortion clinic syndicates throughout North America, that primarily operate in non-White areas and receive tax support, should be promoted."

3. "Negroes and Southern Europeans are mentally inferior to native born Americans"

4. "Since Christianity is in fact a slave religion, it is satirical at least to see the negro adopt a slave religion, after chattel slavery was ended. It simply underlines the fact that consciously or unconsciously, weak humans desire the status of sheep, no matter what they say."

5. "More children from the fit, less from the unfit."

6. "...apply 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."

The advocate for free taxpayer-funded abortions, in quote number two, was the neo-Nazi television repairman who is also responsible for the vile anti-Christian remark in quote number four. The other four disturbing remarks are all comments made by the much-celebrated founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger. Now that you know the answers, you may want to go back and review.

Perhaps it is just a coincidence that 78% of Planned Parenthood abortion clinics are located in minority communities, but it certainly appears as if someone is listening to the neo-Nazi Metzger. And surely the modern feminist movement has evolved and condemned the bigoted and Nazi-like views of its founder, right? Well, here's one more quote:

"So, how do we control men's fertility? Mandatory contraception beginning at puberty, with the rule relaxed only for procreation under the right circumstances (he can afford it and has a willing partner) and for the right reasons (determined by a panel of experts, and with the permission of his designated female partner)."

"...controlling men's fertility would not be a hard restriction to enforce. The fertility authorities could use a combination of punishments for men who failed to get the implants and for doctors who removed them without proper authorization. The men could be required to adopt one orphan per infraction and rear her or him until adulthood. The doctors, could lose their licenses or, in extreme cases, go to prison."

Guess who said that. A crazed-eugenicist working for Hitler? A KKK leader? A neo-Nazi? Margaret Sanger? No, that was Martha Burk writing in the November/December 1997 issue of Ms. Magazine.

Asked about her "mandatory contraception" proposal, Burk responded on CNN's Crossfire, "Hey, if they're going to restrict abortion, buddy, we've got to do it this way." She later claimed the article was a "spoof." But when a radical feminist leader virtually parrots back the words of a radical feminist heroine like Sanger, can it really be considered a "spoof?"

Burk, like most abortion advocates, calls herself "pro-choice." She also wants to decide with whom we can golf and apparently wants the government to decide when we can have children. These feminists sure have a strange understanding of the word "choice."


Daniel P. Coyne is the President of Cleveland Right to Life. He recently helped co-found Hail Holy Queen Communications, a nonprofit organization committed to bringing Catholic radio to Northeastern Ohio. Dan can be reached at danielpcoyne@aol.com.