Daniel Handler (who wrote the excellent “Series of Unfortunate Events” books under the name Lemony Snicket) and his wife, Lisa Brown, announced the $1 million gift to Planned Parenthood on the eve of a possible Congressional shutdown over funding to the agency.
Planned Parenthood is primarily a women’s health provider, and in many places, the only one available, providing breast-cancer screening, pap smears and other life-saving clinical tests and interventions. They also provide abortions on demand to informed, consenting women.
Planned Parenthood was the victim of a frame-up by the Center for Medical Progress, which released a misleadingly edited video that suggested that Planned Parenthood sells foetal remains as a revenue stream. Planned Parenthood does no such thing.
The video was a perfect storm in the American right, appealing both to low-information voters and opportunistic politicians who saw the opportunity to throw red meat to their base. The Tea Party’s plan to use the video as a pretense for shutting down Congress altogether triggered the resignation of House Speaker John Boehner.
Congress held hearings on Planned Parenthood yesterday, and Handler’s announcement was timed to coincide with them.
.@lisabrowndraws & I are giving 1 million dollars to @PPFA. We’ve been very fortunate, and good fortune should be shared with noble causes.
— Daniel Handler (@DanielHandler) September 28, 2015
.@lisabrowndraws & I are giving 1 million dollars to @PPFA. We’ve been very fortunate, and good fortune should be shared with noble causes. [@Danielhandler/Twitter]
(Image: Lemony Snicket, Neon Tommy, CC-BY-SA)