Lemony Snicket gives Planned Parenthood $1M

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. [@Danielhandler/Twitter]


(Image: Lemony Snicket, Neon Tommy, CC-BY-SA)