Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger didn't call Black people 'human weeds' that should be 'exterminated' | Snopes.com --> --> Snopes Now available in the app store! Open Log in to activate your ad-free access. It looks like you might have a Snopes membership! Log in to enjoy your ad-free experience. Log In From Snopes You're browsing with fewer ads for the next 24 hours, thanks to our sponsor . Learn more → --> --> Fact Check Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger didn't call Black people 'human weeds' that should be 'exterminated' Snopes previously found no evidence Sanger said the same about "Slavs and Jews." Laerke Christensen Published May 31, 2026 Image courtesy of UCLA Los Angeles Times collection and Variety, accessed via WikiCommons Claim: Margaret Sanger said, “Colored people are like human weeds and need to be exterminated.” Rating: Incorrect Attribution About this rating Context Snopes found no proof of this exact quote being credibly attributed to Sanger. However, Sanger believed in eugenics and used the term "human weeds" about non-specific groups of people in her writings. In May 2026, a claim ( archived ) circulated online that Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger said, "Colored people are like human weeds and need to be exterminated." Sanger founded a birth control clinic in Brownsville, Brooklyn, in 1916, and her activism would later grow into the Planned Parenthood organization in the U.S. Due to Sanger's belief in eugenics , meaning the selective breeding of human populations to improve their genetic composition, the organization has long been dogged by accusations that it has a racist agenda. One X user who shared Sanger's alleged quote also wrote , " Sanger created what eventually became the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. The group that has aborted millions of black babies." The alleged quote also circulated on Facebook ( archived ). Both users shared it alongside a genuine quote from former First Lady Hillary Cl