AAP is grateful to a generous AAP supporter and outspoken advocate who put her money where her heart is.  Rather than refusing her economic incentive check, Mary Rizzo expressed to the President of the United States her passion and commitment to women's reproductive health and told him that she used her U.S. government check to help carry out the work that he so adamantly opposes. 

May 16, 2008

Dear President Bush:

 
This letter is to thank you for your recent tax refund. I thought you would like to know the use to which I put the $600 that I received. While I considered refusing the money altogether—after all what our country needs is not to encourage more reckless consumer spending as a quick fix to deep-seated economic problems that have multiple causes—I realized that the better solution was to donate the money to two non profit organizations that are fighting for issues I feel passionately about.

In your name, then, sir, I have donated money to the International Planned Parenthood Federation and the Abortion Access Project.

 

Since the first day of your presidency I have been disgusted by your record on women’s rights, reproductive health, sexual education and birth control both here and abroad. You policies have ensured that women who desperately need accurate information and the tools to control reproduction do not have them. The results are clear: too many of these women will end up living in poverty, along with their children. I hope that my small donation, which is only a trickle compared to the torrent of funding that is needed, may help ease the burden on these women.

Sincerely,