Kindly grandfather steered MLK's niece away from abortion
Published: 1/24/2013 1:05 PM
Last Modified: 1/24/2013 1:11 PM
Alveda King, niece of Martin Luther King, Jr.
King, niece of civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr., told several thousand people in downtown Tulsa this week that Martin Luther King, Sr., said to her, "Baby, we don't do that in this family. That's a little person that God made."
Alveda went on to say that her famous uncle also opposed abortion.
That was news to me, so I did a little checking.
The first thing I learned was that when she has made the claim on national media, some have refuted it, pointing out that MLK was an early recipient of Planned Parenthood's Margaret Sanger award, and that in receiving the award, he praised Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, for her life's work.
All that is true, it appears.
But that’s not the whole story, as is often the case in controversial issues.
According to another source, when King got the award back in the 1960s, Planned Parenthood's official position was against abortion. Their own literature drew a sharp distinction between abortion and birth control, saying that abortion “kills the life of a baby after it has begun” and can have serious health consequences for the mother.
Remember, abortion was not legalized by Roe vs. Wade until 1973.
That same source said that of King's close civil rights associates, only Jesse Jackson later came around to a pro-choice position.
Direct quotes from MLK on the subject of abortion, it turns out, are not that easy to find, suggesting the issue might not have been high on his radar. According to Alveda, he did say: “The Negro cannot win if he’s willing to sacrifice the futures of his children for immediate personal comfort and safety.”
MLK spoke clearly in favor of birth control and family planning, issues on which he and Margaret Sanger agreed.
So both sides of the abortion debate like to portray MLK as an ally. And in the end, does it really matter how he felt about it?
Written by
Bill Sherman
Staff Writer
