Planned Parenthood called for 'Disney Princess who's had an abortion'

The Pennsylvania branch of Planned Parenthood, the non-profit organisation which provides reproductive healthcare in the US, yesterday called for ‘a Disney Princess who’s had an abortion’.

In a now-deleted Tweet, it added that ‘We need a Disney Princess who’s pro-choice, we need a Disney Princess who’s an undocumented immigrant, we need a Disney Princess who’s actually a union worker, we need a Disney Princess who’s trans.’

The organisation has since said that the tweet was inappropriate, however Melissa Reed, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Keystone, defended its sentiments.

In a statement, she said: “Planned Parenthood believes that pop culture – television shows, music, movies – has a critical role to play in educating the public and sparking meaningful conversations around sexual and reproductive health issues and policies, including abortion.

“We also know that emotionally authentic portrayals of these experiences are still extremely rare — and that’s part of a much bigger lack of honest depictions of certain people’s lives and communities.

“Today, we joined an ongoing Twitter conversation about the kinds of princesses people want to see in an attempt to make a point about the importance of telling stories that challenge stigma and championing stories that too often don’t get told.

“Upon reflection, we decided that the seriousness of the point we were trying to make was not appropriate for the subject matter or context, and we removed the tweet.”

Despite deleting the tweet two hours after it was posted, it was captured and posted online.

It’s not the first time that a tweet from the organisation has caused controversy.

Earlier this month, conservative actor James Woods tussled with another of its proclamations.

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