Birth control and racism

Despite extensive whitewashing by contemporary leftists, birth control and racism are heavily linked both in history and the present. In the United States, eugenics, a brainchild of the Progressive Movement, led to state-enforced implementations of Social Darwinism which became manifested in crimes against humanity justified by leftists as "human betterment." Birth control became a tool for white supremacy viewed as means to persecute nonwhites, and was promoted alongside rampant immigration restriction out of racist fearmongering.

According to a publication by the National Library of Medicine:

“	Simplistic eugenic thinking has faded, but coerced sterilization remains widespread, especially in China and India. In many parts of the world, involuntary sterilization is still intermittently used against minority groups.	”
—Philip R. Reilly, NCBI

U.S. Progressives

Eugenics in Oregon, 1920s–40s

According to Robert R. McCoy in the Oregon Historical Quarterly, Vol. 110, the middle-class during the Progressive Era formed a movement summarized by historians as "radical democratic populism." Also deemed "reactionary populism," it was used to describe the tendency for Progressive activists to advocate democratic reforms while simultaneously discriminating against racial and ethnic minorities. The Progressive Movement was strong in Oregon, where agrarian contempt for Yankee capitalism was strong and long fueled left-wing populist causes like free coinage of silver; such economic appeals were mixed with overt anti-Asian sentiment, which was prominent in the West.

During the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan became a powerful force in Oregon, as was the case in numerous other states where the Progressive Movement carried a lasting impact. The Oregon Voter tracked fifty-eight known klaverns in the state nearing the end of 1922. Walter M. Pierce, a lifelong Democrat who led the banner of "radical democratic populism" known for persistent bigotry against ethnic minorities including blacks, Chinese-Americans, Japanese-Americans, and Jews, was elected governor in 1922 over anti-Klan incumbent Republican Ben W. Olcott. During his tenure as governor, Pierce signed into law a sterilization act in 1923. McCoy writes:

“	Pierce, during his term as governor, signed a bill "allowing the sterilization of the feebleminded and the criminally insane in state institutions." ... Pierce "took pleasure" in signing what he described as "the first really effective law in the United States on sterilization."	”
—"The Paradox of Oregon's Progressive Politics," p. 410

Pierce's eugenic advocacy was further motivated by the activism of his third wife Cornelia, who along with Bethine Owens-Adair supported the 1923 sterilization bill. When he was later elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the state's 2nd congressional district, Pierce introduced legislation to permit the dissemination of contraception literature via mail; such efforts to modify the Comstock Act were praised by Margaret Sanger. McCoy states of the Pierces' motives:

“	Both Cornelia and Walter advocated for sterilization of the unfit and the creation of a fit white race through birth control. Both sides of eugenics rest on the premise that only those deemed fit to propagate the race should be allowed to live or procreate. Unlike the radical democratic populism that Pierce backed through most of his life, his adherence to the tenets of eugenics exposed a side of politics that elevated certain groups into a position of political and economic power based on their race and physical capabilities.	”
—"The Paradox of Oregon's Progressive Politics," p. 411

In the U.S. House, Pierce, a statist New Dealer, continued his open hatred of blacks, Jews, and Japanese-Americans. In 1937, the chamber passed the Gavagan–Wagner anti-lynching bill by a wide margin with support from Republicans and most Northern Democrats; Pierce was absent on the vote though indicated his intent to oppose the legislation. He voted against the 1940 Gavagan-Fish anti-lynching bill, opposed allowing Jewish children to flee from Nazi Germany into the U.S., and vociferously demanded an en masse persecution of Japanese-Americans, viewing FDR's internment as insufficient.