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MercurysBall2 ago

The Population Control Agenda as It Unfolded for Planned Parenthood jaffememo. com/the-population-control-agenda-as-it-unfolded-for-planned-parenthood/145.htm

As stated on the home page, the purpose of this site is not to nail down precisely what Planned Parenthood decided to do, but rather to lay out the options they were considering. Even this modest purpose is fought by Planned Parenthood defenders, who would like us to believe that the organization is thoroughly committed to a woman’s health and autonomy. Planned Parenthood’s posture in the 1960s and 1970s, epitomized by the Jaffe Memo, makes it clear that they were ready to dispense with such considerations if they deemed it necessary.

And yet, it must be understood that Planned Parenthood is a private organization, based primarily in the United States and England (especially in its early days), and not powerful enough to merely wave its wand and get what it wants. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, they were not entirely sure what they wanted, and not entirely sure that a particular measure would give them what they wanted. So, for example, in Jaffe’s memorandum to Berelson, he points out to Berelson that many people assume that government welfare encourages over-population, but that assumption had not yet been tested. Jaffe then tells Berelson that the opposite may be true: welfare might have the effect of diminishing a population.

This is one reason why this site is not dedicated to laying out precisely what Planned Parenthood decided. “What” it decided didn’t firm up until the late 1970s and early 1980s (at which point, Frederick Jaffe was dead).

Researchers who want to put Planned Parenthood’s decision making process in context would do well to factor in other things that were going on, such as at the United Nations. (Where Planned Parenthood and the Population Council was very active!)

MercurysBall2 ago

Jaffe memo in context jaffememo. com/the-memo-in-context

The Eugenics and Birth Control movements were forced to completely re-make themselves after the Holocaust. Returning to the root Malthusian assumptions, their focus turned to ‘over-population.’ Many, if not most, of the measures entertained prior to the Holocaust remained on the table for consideration. Only the reasons for implementing those measures were changed. Thus, in the 1950s and 1960s, calls for ‘population control’ increased in frequency and volume. See Paul Ehrlich’s “The Population Bomb” as one example that made a dent in popular opinion.

But population control advocates understood that the scope of the problem they were presenting required government action at all levels. Thus, Richard Nixon was prompted to enact population control legislation (still in force today). In 1972, Nixon would call for a commission to ‘study’ the problem and present recommendations. This is known as the Rockefeller Commission Report...