Gabby Kashani of Oakland, an economics teacher, got up Sunday morning, yanked out her glitter pen and heart stencils to create a bunch of "My P---y is Not Up For Grabs" T-shirts, in the hopes of selling them and donating the money to Planned Parenthood in Vice President-elect Mike Pence's name.
"We tried to harness our creative energy this morning," Kashani said on Sunday at a "Hands Around the Lake" event in Oakland, where thousands of people attended to try to deal with Donald Trump being elected, against their desires, as president of the United States. "All of the money will go to Planned Parenthood in Mike Pence's name."
By the end of the day, she had raised $200, and said Monday morning that she planned to make more.
Kashani is part of a growing movement across the country, worried that President-elect Donald's Trump pick for vice president, who is ardently anti-abortion, will stop funding to Parent Parenthood. Kashani and other activists, men and women, have been opening their wallets to make a donation to Planned Parenthood in honor Pence, using the address for his office so he will receive a certificate of thanks. Kashani's reference to a female organ comes after Trump was caught on a 2005 Access Hollywood tape, saying that he could do whatever he wanted to women, including grabbing them "by the p---y."
Pence has been a long-time opponent of Planned Parenthood and abortion rights. While serving in Congress before being elected governor of Indiana in 2012, Pence authored multiple anti-abortion pieces of legislation, including the first bill to strip Planned Parenthood of all federal funding. There was already a Facebook page called "Donate $5 to Planned Parenthood in Honor of Mike Pence," founded back in 2011.
This most recent outpouring of donations isn't the first time Pence has been the target of a social media initiative. After he signed a controversial abortion ban into law in Indiana in March requiring funerals for fetuses, women began contacting the governor's office to send updates on their menstrual cycles in protest of the measure.
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The law, which was ultimately blocked by a federal judge, sought to prohibit women from seeking an abortion if they discovered any fetal genetic abnormalities, in addition to a ban on any abortions performed because of a fetus’ race, sex or ancestry. Doctors who performed any of the abortions forbidden under the measure would have been subject to discipline or potentially sued for wrongful death. Abortion providers would have also been responsible for burying or cremating "fetal remains," and donating fetal tissue would have become a felony.
While Planned Parenthood hasn't commented in detail on the post-election trend of donating in Pence's honor, the organization did thank advocates, saying they've "been blown away by the support" and acknowledging that many people are donating in both Pence and Hillary Clinton's names.
And following the election, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards issued this statement: "Planned Parenthood has been here for 100 years, and one thing is clear: We will never back down and we will never stop fighting to ensure that Planned Parenthood patients have access to the care they need, people who come from communities that need our continued support in this new reality — immigrants, people of color, the LGBTQ community, people of faith, and more. Health care should not be political."
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