Planned Parenthood demands that Karen Hughes apologize for 9/11 comparison

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http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=137-04272004

Planned Parenthood Demands Karen Hughes Apologize for 9/11 Comparison; Feldt to Hughes: 'An insensitive and divisive Overreach;' Hughes Invokes 9/11 to Defend Bush Anti-Choice Policies
4/27/2004 1:21:00 PM

To: National Desk
Contact: Joel Lawson of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, 202-973-4880
WASHINGTON, April 27 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Gloria Feldt today demanded that Karen Hughes apologize for invoking 9/11 in her attempt to defend President George W. Bush's anti-choice policies.

"(This) was an insensitive and divisive overreach," Feldt wrote in a letter to Hughes today. "It is outrageous to suggest that those of us who challenge this administration's attacks on reproductive rights and access do not value life and human dignity. Indeed, it is because we value life and human dignity that we support a woman's right to choice," Feldt said today.

Hughes made her comments Sunday on CNN. Speaking in reaction to the more than one million women and men gathered for the March for Women's Lives, Hughes said:

"I think after September 11, the American people are valuing life moreand I think those are the kind of policies the American people can support, particularly at a time when we're facing an enemy, and really, the fundamental difference between us and the terror network we fight is that we value every life."

In her letter to Hughes, Feldt said such comments also conflicted with the stated goals of U.S. military action in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"Your friends in the administration have repeatedly stated that our troops are fighting for freedom: to allow people to control their own lives and make their own decisions. Yet this administration and this Congress are working to take away American women's rights to make their own decisions."

"If anyone has an understanding gap regarding women's rights at this troubled time in our history, it is not those of us who oppose anti-choice, anti-women policies," Feldt wrote to Hughes today.

"The horror of 9/11 has been used inappropriately too many times, and this is clearly such an incident," Feldt wrote.