A clip of Ohio gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy making incendiary remarks about the safety of Black babies is going viral online, as critics slam them as ignorant and racist.
“A Black baby is probably safer…in the inner city of Chicago, than in the womb of his own Black mother,” Ramaswamy says in the clip that was shared by the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Governors Association, and Headquarters, formerly the presidential campaign HQ of Kamala Harris.
Ramaswamy continued, “And I think that that’s actually a problem, and it’s directly the product of what Margaret Sanger envisioned years ago when setting Planned Parenthood into motion.”
While the backlash from the clip was swift and worth scrutiny, the clip itself is not new. It stems from a 2023 podcast that Vivek Ramaswamy hosted while he ran for president in the 2024 Republican primary cycle. In a conversation with Adam Coleman, author of “Black Victim to Black Victor,” the tech billionaire claimed that Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, launched the reproductive health organization with the “objective of reducing Black population growth.”
GOP Ohio Gov. nominee Vivek Ramaswamy claims "a Black baby is probably safer in the inner streets of Chicago than in the womb of his own Black mother" pic.twitter.com/pfPvAYLsGo
— FactPost (@factpostnews) June 1, 2026
Ramaswamy’s claims about Sanger and Planned Parenthood have been made by other conservatives like former heart surgeon Dr. Ben Carson, who served as U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development during President Donald Trump’s first term. However, the characterization of Sanger is unfounded, though she was a prominent proponent of birth control at the height of the women’s rights movement, which was embraced by Black leaders and organizations, including the National Urban League and NAACP founder W.E.B. DuBois.
“She was handing out birth control pamphlets to women, because she was tired of women dying in childbirth, and when she started doing that work in Lower Manhattan, there were Black leaders in Harlem who were like, ‘Well, wait a minute, Black women up here also need access to care, including contraception,'” Alencia Johnson, a Democratic strategist who worked at Planned Parenthood, told theGrio. “The Harlem clinic that the Right likes to weaponize against Planned Parenthood was actually started in partnership with the National Urban League. So, the formation of Planned Parenthood has actually been in partnership with a lot of Black leaders.”
Ramaswamy’s resurfaced remarks about Black babies have been met with strong condemnation.
“The fact that this clip is resurfacing should serve as a reminder to any candidate that their wannabe Sistah Souljah moment stunts leave a lasting stain,” Democratic strategist Reecie Colbert told theGrio. “MAGA rejected Vivek’s 2024 presidential campaign, and Black Ohioans and people of conscience should send him packing in November.”
Johnson similarly told theGrio that the 2023 remarks should disqualify Ramaswamy from consideration as Ohio governor.
“Ohio’s rates of maternal mortality and infant mortality are extremely high,” she noted, adding, “The Republican Party likes to talk about being the party of family values; they like to say we have to support mothers, and they are actually anti-mother and anti-family.”
Johnson continued, “It’s always non-Black women talking about what’s good for Black mothers, but yet won’t support policies like family medical leave, paid leave, universal child care, clean air, clean water, all these things for Black mothers to actually have Black children who can thrive in this country.” She added, “To be honest, I think the unsafe place for a Black child is actually after they are born.”
“Vivek Ramaswamy’s disgusting comments are just one more reason he doesn’t belong anywhere near Ohio’s governor’s office,” Izzi Levy, a spokesperson for the Democratic Governors’ Association, said to theGrio in a statement. “Ohioans deserve a governor who will be laser-focused on making their lives better, not one who pushes racist smears to justify extreme and unpopular attacks on their rights.”
“I’m so sick of the disgusting way Republicans keep going after Black women. It’s as if they have nothing better to do but to multi-generationally berate Black women. Then they wonder why Black women are immovable in election cycles,” Democratic strategist Ameshia Cross wrote on X.
Political activist and content creator Tiffany Carlock, known as “Candidly Tiff,” wrote, “He needs to shut his dusty a— up. Ohio is this who you want as your Gov? He has no business being in charge of an entire state with the racist s–t.”
“The worst kind of white supremacist is the white supremacist who isn’t even white. So, on behalf of Black mothers, Black sisters, Black fathers, and Black sisters everywhere: F–K YOU! Lil b—h a—,” wrote Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries, a professor of history at Ohio State University and the brother of U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives.
Isaiah Martin, a former U.S. congressional candidate in Texas, said of Ramaswamy’s resurfaced remarks, “Always remember: they go on weird tirades like this because they’re too low IQ to talk about the economy their cult leader broke.”
