By David Williams
CNN
NEW YORK — Planned Parenthood is facing a social media backlash after one of its branches tweeted and then deleted a post suggesting Disney create a princess who’d had an abortion.
Planned Parenthood Keystone, which operates in 37 Pennsylvania counties, tweeted on Tuesday that “We need a Disney Princess who’s had an abortion. 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 tweet plays off of a popular internet meme calling for more diverse Disney princesses.
It didn’t go over well.
“So glad #PlannedParenthood deleted their disgusting tweet, I don’t really think having a Disney princess getting an abortion is appropriate for young girls…” said one woman Wednesday on Twitter. Her comment was typical of much of the outcry.
Planned Parenthood Keystone head Melissa Reed confirmed that her group sent the tweet.
“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,” Reed said in an emailed statement.
“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.”
She said Planned Parenthood uses pop culture to educate people and start conversations about sexual and reproductive health issues.
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