Self-loathing former slut Dawn Eden has decided to use the fifth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center to smear Planned Parenthood and do a little slut-shaming on the side:
Five years ago this week, I was standing outside the upper West Side headquarters of the American Red Cross of Greater New York, helping the organization manage the streams of would-be volunteers and blood donors who swarmed the building. It was both beautiful and heartbreaking to see how people of every age and background wanted so badly to do something for the survivors, the victims’ families, the city, and the country.
Something tells me that Dawn wasn’t actually a volunteer for the Red Cross, but enjoyed playing traffic cop. And now she gets to feel important by associating herself, Zelig-like, with the organization.
Meanwhile, downtown, the powers-that-be at Planned Parenthood were thinking of what they could do to help. In their minds — and I do believe that, in their twisted logic, they sincerely thought they were just doing their part to help — the best thing they could do was offer free “services” to women who were “in need due to the World Trade Center tragedy.” Among those services was an untold number of abortions.
“Untold,” perhaps, because Dawn has no earthly idea how many were actually performed because that’s confidential medical information. But, hey, use a vague, slightly sinister term like “untold number” and you can suggest that they were abortin’ babies left and right!
Dave Andrusko reported the story in October 2001 in his essay “Beyond Words,” reprinted here in its entirety with added links to archived Planned Parenthood press releases:
Note the source of this story: some right-to-life group. Oh, yeah, there’s an objective news source!
Here’s something interesting: while looking for non-wingnut news sources for this story, I found plenty of evidence of wingnuts exploiting the Sept. 11 attacks from the get-go. Here’s the abstract from a behind-the-wall story from December 2, 2001:
Anti-abortion group Idaho Chooses Life unveils television advertisement contending that while some 4,000 people died in Sept 11 terrorist attacks on World Trade Center, at least that many deaths occur every day in United States from abortion
Now, clearly, this is a way for the godbags to tie Planned Parenthood in with the terrorists (though that didn’t work out so well for Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, as even George Bush denounced their comments about feminists, pagans, queers and abortionists having caused the attacks). And since honesty is not their strong suit, they’re not going to tell you that abortion clinics and family planning centers have been the targets of domestic godbag terrorists for years:
Abortion clinics are at vanguard of anthrax threats, with four waves of mailings, all hoaxes, since 1989; most widespread threats began Oct 15, when over 250 clinics got letters claiming to contain anthrax; many clinics have mastered procedures offices nationwide are just beginning to adopt for mail handling
Anthrax tests at a dozen family planning centers that provide abortions came back negative, Lisa Bull, a spokeswoman for the F.B.I., said yesterday. The state centers received letters on Nov. 8 containing a white powder and a note saying that the powder was anthrax, state and federal officials said. The letters were sent via Federal Express to two clinics in Hartford, two in Danbury, two in New Haven and one each in Bridgeport, Norwalk, Waterbury, Meriden, New London and Avon.
Atty Gen John Ashcroft says Clayton Lee Waagner, who is on FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List since Sept, is primary suspect in mailing of anthrax threats to hundreds of abortion clinics nationwide this fall; Waagner escaped on Feb 22 from jail in Illinois, where he was awating sentencing on federal firearms and interstate theft charges; FBI considers him ‘extremely dangerous’
Here’s what Dave Andrusko had to say about PPNYC’s offer of free reproductive health services, as quoted by Dawn:
Included in the “reproductive health care” that would be provided through “state-of-the-art clinical services, education and professional training, and advocacy” is abortion.
Even as just a few miles away firemen and emergency rescue workers were digging through the rubble of the World Trade Center for victims of the terrorist attacks, PPNYC was assuring women that while they were encouraged to make appointments, PPNYC “will do our best to accommodate walk-ins.”
Three days later, Joan Malin, Planned Parenthood of New York City’s CEO, extended the “free services,” gleefully noting, “The response has been overwhelming. PPNYC health centers have been booked to capacity and have had 100% show rates for appointments.”
What to say?
You could say, “Thank you,” Dave. And you could also say, “Wow, isn’t it a sign of how poor our health-care system in this country is that low-income women will forgo basic health care because they can’t afford it, and will jump at the chance to take free, quality care when it’s offered because they know it’s likely to be their only shot.”
Somehow, Dave (and Dawn) see the 100% attendance rate as some kind of created need for abortions, rather than a need for basic health services.
There were, after all, a lot of low-income people who lost family members on 9/11, or who lost jobs afterwards. The restaurant and hotel industry was seriously hurting. Whole swaths of Manhattan were shut down. At least one hospital had to close because one of its employees died of anthrax. Many of these people have since recieved compensation (at least those who lost family members have, not so much for those who lost income or who survived themselves), but they had nothing at the time. And when you have no income, you have even less money than you did before to obtain basic care.
You know how I can tell that Dave isn’t from New York? Try this:
The rest of America conducts car washes, donates blood, pledges money, consoles families who’ve lost members to terrorists, and prays each night that our nation remains strong and united.
Planned Parenthood of New York City underwrites the elimination of unborn babies.
Dave feels all self-righteous because he prayed and had a car wash. PPNYC provided vital health care free of charge to destitute women affected by the tragedy up close and personal. Which do you think was the more effective and more humane response?
But back to Dawn.
Real piece of work, this one is. Since she’s banned me from her site and taken down my comment, I really feel no compunction at all in pointing out that she’s a thin-skinned, narcissistic, self-important blowhard who’s unhealthily obsessed with other people’s sex lives and whose self-regard somehow never seems to develop into actual self-examination. Oh, and she lies.
Just like some of her commenters. For example, there’s this one:
This baffled and appalled me so much I don’t think I even let it stay as a thought it my mind for more than a second. I was baffled because I cannot imagine PP some how tied the World Trade Center bombing to sex and the need for “reproductive services”. How was that on anyone’s mind? I can’t figure out for the life of me why the bombing created a need for more birth control and abortions. Blood drives, I can see that. Birth control? Who the heck is having sex on Ground Zero?
The only scenario I can see is perhaps pregnant widows might want abortions? I guess in my pro-life, demented, non-logical mind, if my husband died in such a horrible tragedy, I would find the pregnancy a blessing planned by God, not tragedy.
Pansy Moss | Homepage | 09.11.06 – 6:58 am | #
And another woman, who’s just lost her only means of support, might be cursing God. That’s the thing about choice — other people make ones you might not like.
You know what got me banned? Pointing out that the only person I knew about who was having sex at Ground Zero was Bernard Kerik.
I guess Dawn doesn’t like being reminded that America’s Mayor picked as his right-hand man the kind of guy who’d use an apartment set aside for rescue workers to get some rest as his own personal love nest for assignations with not one but two mistresses.
I didn’t even mention the below-market renovations on his apartment by a mobbed-up contractor.