"I want every child that's born in the world to be planned and wanted."

Joycelyn Elders Medicine See all quotes by Joycelyn Elders →

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“We've tried ignorance for a thousand years. It's time we try education.”

“We know that more than 70 to 80% of women masturbate, and 90% of men masturbate, and the rest lie.”

“As long as I was in Washington I never met anybody that I thought was good enough, who knew enough, or who loved enough to make sexual decisions for anybody else.”

“We must stop this love affair with the fetus.”

“I'm against abstinence programs because I really consider "abstinence only" child abuse.”

“How do you get rid of the trash? It's out there in society, it's going on every day You can educate children an awful lot easier than you can get rid of the trash.”

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