Ex-Planned Parenthood Staff Reveals Working Conditions: 'Anthrax Threats'

A woman who says she used to work at a Planned Parenthood clinic has shared the alarming events she went through while working at the women's health organization, in light of the Roe v. Wade news.

The worker shared her experience at Planned Parenthood in a series of tweets about her time working there, focusing on the issues she faced.

The interaction comes in light of this week's leak of a draft Supreme Court decision, showing a majority of justices support overturning the federal protection of abortion across the U.S.

The draft decision would leave abortion as a state issue, meaning each state could initiate its own laws, and potential bans, on abortion. Roe v. Wade rules that pregnant people have a right to terminate a pregnancy up to the point the fetus is able to survive outside of the womb, often ruled as 24 weeks.

Should it happen, the ending of Roe v. Wade would allow for 26 states to immediately ban or strictly restrict abortion.

Under the Twitter name @gumbyanne, the woman responded to a tweet indicating that anti-abortion protesters didn't "freakout" after the original Roe v. Wade case, comparing it to the reaction of "the left" at the present moment. In response, she shared her own personal experiences seemingly disputing that very idea—from threats to acts of terrorism.

"When I worked at Planned Parenthood, I had to open the mail in an airtight room so that if one of the envelopes contained anthrax I'd be the only person to die," claimed Minnesota-based @gumbyanne.

"This exact clinic had received anthrax threats before, including an actual envelope of mystery powder arriving in the mail, so this was practical and necessary risk mitigation," she added.

"A terrorist drove his truck into the front door of the Planned Parenthood while I was working there.

"While I was working at Planned Parenthood, abortion provider George Tiller was murdered. The entire list of anti-abortion terrorist acts is extremely long, so i'm just listing the ones that impacted me directly."

Abortion opponent Scott Roeder was convicted of the 2009 murder of abortion rights activist Tiller, who was acting as an usher at Sunday morning service at his church in Wichita, Kansas, when he was fatally shot in the head.

Hundreds of hoax anthrax letters were mailed to abortion clinics in the U.S. in 2001.

Reports of hate and attacks outside clinics continue to rise, as proved by data. The National Abortion Federation has been tracking violence and disruption against abortion providers since 1977 and in 2020, saw a 125% increase in reports of assault and battery outside clinics with members reporting 54 incidents, rising from 24 in 2019.

Internet harassment and hate mail and harassing phone calls also rose, with providers reporting 3,413 targeted incidents of hate mail and harassing phone calls, rising from 3,123 in 2019.

According to the NAF, since 1977, there have been "11 murders, 26 attempted murders, 42 bombings, 194 arsons, and thousands of incidents of criminal activities directed at abortion providers."

In response to the recent leak about Roe v. Wade, Planned Parenthood has vowed to continue to fight for the right to safe abortions. In a statement, the President and CEO of Planned Parenthood, Alexis McGill Johnson, said: "While we have seen the writing on the wall for decades, it is no less devastating, and comes just as anti-abortion rights groups unveil their ultimate plan to ban abortion nationwide," referencing a report that some senators were planning a bill to ban abortions post-six weeks nationwide.

"We will continue to fight like hell to protect the right to access safe, legal abortion."

Newsweek has contacted Planned Parenthood and @gumbyanne for comment.