After learning a protest donation to Planned Parenthood had been made in his name, a Republican senator sent a letter to the nonprofit organization comparing them to a Nazi concentration camp. Sen. Steve Fitzgerald's letter specifically referenced the German death camp of Dachau, the New York Daily Newsreported Tuesday. A Planned Parenthood center in Kansas shared the letter in full on Twitter last week:
In a subsequent interview with the Kansas City Star, Fitzgerald doubled down on his remarks. "It was either send them that or ignore it," Fitzgerald said. "I figured, I don't want my name associated as a donation to Planned Parenthood, in my name, to go on undenounced by me." The Nazis, Fitzgerald added, "ought to be incensed" by the comparison.
Though the total number of victims who died at Dachau may never be known, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum says the number of prisoners who died in the camp (and sub camps) between January 1940 and May 1945 was "at least 28,000." That estimate, the Museum explains, does not include those who died between 1933 and 1939, or unregistered prisoners.
The $25 donation was made by Prairie Village resident Ali Weinel, who told the Star she was inspired to make it in Fitzgerald's name following his frustrating responses to her emailed concerns over anti-abortion legislation. "I just was so angry and knew that the only way I could be less angry was if I made a difference," Weinel said. "So that's what I did." The Planned Parenthood center in Great Plains has since received additional donations made in Fitzgerald's name.
