Carson: Planned Parenthood targets black neighborhoods to ‘control’ population

GOP presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson on Wednesday accused Planned Parenthood of disproportionately opening clinics in black neighborhoods as a way to “control that population.”

In an interview with Fox News late Wednesday, Carson claimed Planned Parenthood’s founder, Margaret Sanger, was a racist who intentionally opened abortion clinics in predominately black neighborhoods.

{mosads}“I know who Margaret Sanger is, and I know she believed in eugenics, and that she was not particularly enamored with black people,” Carson said in an appearance on “Your World with Neil Cavuto.”

“One of the reason you find most of the clinics in black neighborhoods is so you can find a way to control that population,” said Carson, who is the only black candidate among the GOP field of 17.

Carson, a neurosurgeon, has surged in polls after last week’s Republican debate. He is one of only two GOP presidential candidate with a medical degree, and has been one of Planned Parenthood’s biggest critics in the wake of its recent video controversy.

The women’s health group has been accused by an anti-abortion-rights group of illegally profiting from fetal tissue donations — claims that have attracted national attention and prompted nearly every Republican presidential candidate to call for defunding the group.

While billionaire businessman Donald Trump has defended some of Planned Parenthood’s women’s health operations, Carson acknowledged that he is “not objective when it comes to Planned Parenthood.”

“There are a lot of women’s health clinics that don’t engage in abortion,” he told Fox.

Carson’s attacks against Planned Parenthood have also drawn new attention this week after a decades-old research paper surfaced that showed he has studied fetal tissue himself. Carson defended his work Thursday, arguing that fetal tissue can lead to life-saving discoveries.