An e-mail campaign inadvertently spawned by Los Angeles Times columnist Patt Morrison is having an unexpected impact on Planned Parenthood Chicago.
On Jan. 26, Morrison wrote a column critical of President George W. Bush’s recent actions in the area of reproductive rights. Morrison ended the column by saying she would give a contribution in Bush’s name in honor of Presidents’ Day, urging him to check his mailbag for a card reading “President George W. Bush, a donation has been made in your name to Planned Parenthood.”
Morrison’s column soon became an e-mail missive, copied and forwarded to mailboxes nationwide, and grew into a grass-roots Internet campaign discussed in various online chat rooms.
As a result, the national Planned Parenthood organization saw a surge in donations since the e-mail started circulating–more than $500,000 as of Friday, according to Molly Smith-Watson of the Washington, D.C., office–with women citing the column and posting messages to the president on the group’s Web site.
Planned Parenthood Chicago also reports an increase in contributions–50 or so in the first several days of the e-mail campaign–and has created a special President’s Day Message Campaign link on its Web site.
Most of these contributions, said Steve Trombley, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood Chicago, are from new donors.
“They are almost exclusively new people who haven’t taken the step to support a pro-choice organization, but because they are concerned about what they have seen in the first two weeks of the Bush administration, had decided that they wanted to send in a check.”
For each donation made to Planned Parenthood Chicago as part of the Presidents’ Day Campaign, Trombley said a card would be sent to the White House saying that a gift has been made to the group in Bush’s honor.
Morrison’s column and the ensuing e-mail campaign also have anti-abortion activists signing on to their computers and opening their wallets: Many are sending donations to anti-abortion groups in Morrison’s name.
