Here's Where To Send Planned Parenthood Donations

Right now, many Americans are rightly concerned about the future of Planned Parenthood, especially because Mike Pence has a long history of trying to defund the organization. If you donate to the women’s health provider, you can send your Planned Parenthood donation certificate to Mike Pence’s office address to inform him that you’ve given money to support women’s reproductive rights and access to healthcare on his behalf. The gesture offers two important benefits: The knowledge that you’re aiding an important advocate and provider of women’s health services, and the grim satisfaction of letting America’s new VP know that women aren’t going to give up Planned Parenthood without a fight. There are some dark days ahead — you might as well take joy where you can find it, right?

Mike Pence has spent almost a decade trying to get rid of Planned Parenthood, first attempting to defund the organization as a member of the House of Representatives in 2007. After repeated failed bills to defund Planned Parenthood, the defunding passed through the House in 2011, only to fail in the Senate. As Governor of Indiana, Pence backed some of the most extreme anti-abortion bills on record, including a bill he signed in March of 2016 that bars women from having abortions based on the race, gender, or genetic abnormalities of the fetus (effectively policing women’s reasons for choosing to terminate a pregnancy). The bill also requires that aborted or miscarried fetuses be cremated or buried. Pence has made his dedication to eliminating legal abortion clear; he once said, “I long for the day that Roe v. Wade is sent to the ash heap of history.”

It is yet to be seen what role Pence will play in Trump’s government. As Vice President, his powers will be fairly limited, but so far Donald Trump has also maintained that he will defund Planned Parenthood and appoint justices to the Supreme Court who will overturn Roe v. Wade. Only last night in an interview with 60 Minutes, Trump reiterated that he would appoint “pro-life” judges, and that, if the court overturned Roe v. Wade, abortion laws would fall to the states. And if that leaves women in some states without access to abortions? “[T]hey’ll have to go to another state,” he said (ignoring the fact such a requirement would make legal, safe abortion effectively impossible for many women).

Planned Parenthood is no stranger to controversy, but there’s no doubt that the organization will be more embattled than ever once Trump takes office. In a statement released November 9, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards stated, “We will never back down and we will never stop fighting to ensure that Planned Parenthood patients have access to the care they need.”

Donations to Planned Parenthood have surged in the last week, and some supporters of the organization have found a simple and effective way to support women’s continued access to healthcare and troll Mike Pence at the same time: Making their donations in his name. Here’s how: As with most organizations that accept donations, Planned Parenthood lets you donate on someone else’s behalf. That person receives a notification that the donation has been made to honor him or her.

To do this yourself, go to the Planned Parenthood donation page and select “Yes, my gift is in honor or memory of someone special” as you enter your info. You can then enter the person’s name and contact info. In this case, the name is “Mike Pence,” and his address at the Office of the Governor of Indiana is 200 W. Washington St., Rm. 206, Indianapolis, IN, 46204. Finally, you enter your contact and payment info. (Bustle has a full illustrated guide of how to do this here.) You should get a notification of the donation, and Mike Pence will get one at his office in Indiana.

Making a donation to Planned Parenthood in Pence’s name may feel good, but it’s only a small gesture, and one unlikely to alter his attitudes about women’s access to healthcare and reproductive rights. But it will remind him that, as Vice President, he represents all American women — and that a lot of those women will fight like hell against any attempts by him or Donald Trump to interfere with their rights over their own bodies.