Planned Parenthood of Southern New England Sees Uptick in Donations Under ‘Mike Pence' Name

Planned Parenthood of Southern New England (PPSNE) has been seeing an uptick in monetary donations to the organization since Election Day -- many of those donations under the name of Vice President-elect Mike Pence.

PPSNE has been providing services like STD testing, birth control, and annual exams for more than 90 years and since the presidential election, they’ve seen a rise in people concerned about losing those health care services under the Trump Administration.

Vice President-elect Pence is against providing federal funding to the organization because of their in-clinic abortions. Since the election, Planned Parenthood affiliates across the nation, including PPSNE which has 17 affiliates in Connecticut and one in Rhode Island, 40 percent of donations received by Planned Parenthood of New England has been in honor or supposedly from "Mike Pence."

"We are humbled and comforted by the tremendous outpouring of support we have received through emails, letters, phone calls and social media messages this week," said President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, Judy Tabar, in a statement to NBC Connecticut.

"The majority of Americans support access to health care at Planned Parenthood and want abortion to stay legal and safe. We will fight to make sure those rights are protected and that all people can still access the care they need. We will not give up, we will not back down."

For every donation in Pence's name, depending on each affiliate, Pence will receive either multiple thank you notes from the organizations -- or in the case of Planned Parenthood of Southern New England -- he’ll be receiving a single thank you letter.

The monetary donations under his name are a jab at what many consider his controversial stance on women’s reproductive rights.

"I think it’s a valid form of protest and donating to planned parenthood is probably the best way to keep the services within the community," said Jack Loveridge of New Haven.

"It’s not the way I would normally think of protesting and going about it," said Judy Crocker of New Haven.

There have been 160,000 donations to the national organization since the election. 20,000 of those donations are under the name “Mike Pence.”

Planned Parenthood of Southern New England did not have numbers available on how many donations they’ve received under Pence’s name, but tells NBC Connecticut its fundraising team has been busier than usual this time of year.

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