People Are Still Giving To PP In Mike Pence's Name

It's been difficult to find any silver linings in the ongoing post-election saga, but there is at least one good thing: donations to Planned Parenthood in Mike Pence's name are ongoing. As of Nov. 23, the organization had received 50,000 donations in the future Vice President's name, in addition to another 150,000 other donations that ignore him. While they have not disclosed the amount of money raised through these donations, this strong outpouring of support will undoubtedly help when the incoming administration takes office.

Throughout his campaign, Trump promised to appoint Supreme Court justices who opposed abortion. This promise backed up his pro-life credentials, which were somewhat in question after previous statements saying that he was pro-choice. Picking Pence as his VP, of course, was another way of doing the same thing; of all of the right-wing evangelical politicians in the GOP, there are few who have been so vehemently anti-reproductive rights as Mike Pence. Planned Parenthood has taken more than its fair share of his ire, as he sponsored the first House bill to defund it. Since then he's stayed on the case, sticking to his belief that his anti-abortion convictions would justify taking away all of the healthcare that Planned Parenthood provides for millions of American women.

Pence and those in the House who have been pushing to defund the organization don't seem to have recognized that abortions account for only 3 percent of PP's services and that the federal money that they receive can't go to fund abortions as it is. Those facts have been widely published and fact-checked, but with Republicans controlling both Congress and the White House, it's likely that PP will still come under significant fire.

Luckily, of the donations that have flowed in since Election Day, at least a quarter are from donors who have pledged to be monthly supporters. That means that popular support will continue, and that's not even taking into account the people who will add further donations as the months go by and the Republicans rev up their war on reproductive freedom. If you want Pence to receive yet another thank you card, here's the address of the Indiana governor's office. He hasn't made any statement about all of the good being done in his name, but if you'd like to, you can just apply what he said about the people booing him at Hamilton: "This is what freedom sounds like."