Over at RH Reality Check, Robin Marty catches anti-choice activists conflating abortion with birth control in the aftermath of the natural disaster in Joplin, Missouri. Here is Bryan Kemper, a columnist for LifeNews, attacking Planned Parenthood of Missouri — which is offering free birth control and condoms to those who have been displaced — for allegedly providing “free abortions” to the displaced population:
In 2001 Planned Parenthood of NYC offered free abortions to women who lost a husband or boyfriend in the attacks on 9/11. What a wonderful sentiment to send to grieving women; (Lost your husband? Let us kill his child for free).
Planned Parenthood of Joplin, MO is following suit and offering their services for free to victims of the Tornado….Yepp, that is what these people need more than food, water, shelter and clothing; they need condoms and the pill. To quote Seth Myers and Tina Fey on Saturday Night Live, “Really”. Really Planned Parenthood? Free birth control and abortion for people who are suffering, hungry, thirsty and traumatized sounds like such a wonderful community service. Killing children is not heath care and it is certainly not disaster relief.
Marty notes that LifeNews eventually backed away from this claim and deleted the post from their website. Republicans, however, (who regularly conflate abortion with contraception) won’t abandon their efforts that easily.