Planned Parenthood worse than Nazis, Kansas senator says

A Kansas senator compared Planned Parenthood to a Nazi concentration camp after being told that a donation to the organization had been made in his name.

Sen. Steve Fitzgerald, R-Leavenworth, wrote to Planned Parenthood last week, saying “shame on anyone that would attempt to blacken my name in this manner.”

“This as bad, or worse, as having one’s name associated with Dachau,” he wrote in the letter.

Dachau was the first concentration camp created by the Nazis and was initially intended to hold political prisoners, according to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Fitzgerald stood by his comparison Monday and the letter he sent to Planned Parenthood.

“It was either send them that or ignore it,” Fitzgerald said about his letter. “I figured I don’t want my name associated as a donation to Planned Parenthood, in my name, to go on undenounced by me.”

He called the donation and ensuing letter telling him about the donation “harassment” and “political theater.”

“I think the Nazis ought to be incensed by the comparison,” Fitzgerald said.

The letter became public last week after the Twitter account @PPGreatPlainsKS tweeted out a photo of it.

Ali Weinel, who lives in Prairie Village, said she made the orginal $25 donation to Planned Parenthood in Fitzgerald’s name.

Weinel said she had e-mailed Fitzgerald over concerns she had about abortion legislation he had sponsored this session.

She said she made the donation after becoming frustrated with the senator’s responses.

“I just was so angry and knew that the only way I could be less angry was if I made a difference,” she said. “So that’s what I did.”

Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, called Fitzgerald’s comments disturbing.

“He should be ashamed,” Richards said. “It’s this kind of inflammatory language that condones the type of behavior we see sometimes outside of women’s health centers. ... It’s really disturbing to me that this kind of rhetoric and language is considered acceptable.”

Bonyen Lee-Gilmore, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said the letter has started a domino effect of other people making donations to Planned Parenthood in Fitzgerald’s name.

Rabbi Moti Rieber, executive director of Kansas Interfaith Action, called Fitzgerald’s remarks offensive.

“It’s astonishing to me that an elected official in Kansas could make such a comparison,” Rieber said. 　

Asked Monday whether he was saying Planned Parenthood was worse than the Nazis, Fitzgerald said, “Oh, yeah.”

“What I’m saying is, they’re both exterminating innocent human life,” Fitzgerald said.

He then went on to ask how someone would feel if a similar donation were to be made to the Ku Klux Klan.

“How about if I make a donation in your name to the Ku Klux Klan and publish it?” Fitzgerald said. “If somebody made a donation to the Ku Klux Klan in your name and published it, how would you feel? What would you do? How would you react? Wouldn’t it be controversial for you to deny that or to denounce that in the strongest possible terms? It’s pretty controversial, don’t you think?”

This isn’t the first time a Kansas lawmaker has made comparisons between Nazi Germany and Planned Parenthood.

Former House Speaker Pro Tem Peggy Mast, R-Emporia, was criticized last year after calling Adolf Hitler’s words profound in a Facebook post.

She then clarified in a later post that she referenced Hitler because “Planned Parenthood has learned well the same tactics and deception used by Hitler regarding innocent lives.”

This story was originally published March 13, 2017 at 4:17 PM with the headline "Planned Parenthood worse than Nazis, Kansas senator says."