Eugenics is the foundation for which racism, sexism, abortion, forced sterilization, and ethnic cleansing is built upon.

Eugenics is the belief that the human race can and should be “purified” by preventing undesirable individuals from reproducing (negative eugenics) and encouraging individuals with desirable traits to reproduce (positive eugenics). The term was first coined in the writings of Sir Francis Galton in 1833 as the social philosophy to enact the principles of natural selection proposed by his half first-cousin, Charles Darwin.

What started as elitist beliefs quickly became social policy in Europe and the United States. The endorsement of prestigious individuals like Presidents Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Catholic Archbishop of New York Joseph Hayes, and the Rockefeller family allowed organizations like the British Eugenics Education Society, the American Eugenics Society, the International Eugenics Conference, and the American Birth Control League to thrive and influence public policy.

When eugenics turned from social philosophy to government policy, atrocities like forced sterilization of minorities and the disabled became commonplace. Eventually, eugenics was paired with the radical beliefs of the Nazis and gave rise to the mass extermination of Jews, gypsies, the disabled, and homosexuals in the pursuit of the pure Aryan race.

In the wake of World War II, eugenics became increasingly unpopular due to its association with the Holocaust. Desiring the same result but not the bad press, American Eugenicist Margaret Sanger reorganized the American Birth Control League into Planned Parenthood and continued the Nazi’s legacy of mass extermination of undesirable individuals in the silence of the mother’s womb.