ALEXANDRIA, VA, May 9, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) — A controversial effort to build a museum to honor women's history in America is being headed by women with political ties to abortion causes and groups.
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 863, which created a commission as the first stage of eventual creation of the National Women's History Museum (NWHM). The effort is being led by a non-profit under the same name.
As reported by Daniel Horowitz at the Madison Project and Red State, several of the members of the NWHM board of directors have donated time and money to pro-abortion groups and causes. The board's interim chairperson, Carey Shuart, has donated over $18,000 to the pro-abortion Emily's List since 2000. The secretary of the board, Ann Stone, is founder and chairman of “Republicans for Choice.”
The non-profit's president and CEO, Joan Wages, is described on its website having “championed women's issues on and off Capitol Hill throughout her career. As a registered lobbyist, she worked with legislators and women's organizations to effect positive change on a host of issues.” Wages is a Democrat who in 2012 donated $250 to each of pro-abortion Rep. Eleanor Norton, D-DC, and Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-CA, as well as the Democratic fundraising organization Act Blue.
According to Concerned Women for America (CWA), Wages has also donated $1,000 to then-Sen. John Kerry, D-MA, and Emily's List. CWA also points to regular involvement with pro-abortion organizations by Shuart, as well as donations to Planned Parenthood. Numerous other high-ranking women involved with NWHM have donated hundreds or thousands of dollars to largely Democratic candidates and campaign organizations.
The most prominent supporter of the museum's construction is actress Meryl Streep, who has promised one million dollars for the effort. Streep has a long record of supporting abortion, including this video sponsored by the Center for Reproductive Rights. Text next to the video says that “Reproductive Rights Are Fundamental Human Rights,” and in the video Streep criticizes “opponents of our fundamental reproductive rights.”
On its honorary board, the NWHM cites over 100 present and former members of Congress, a majority of whom are Democratic supporters of abortion. Exceptions include Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-UT, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-TN, and Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, a pro-life former Republican Senator.
In order to compensate for these apparent biases in favor of pro-abortion viewpoints, the museum's leadership has made changes in recent years. In a scathing 2012 article about the NWHM and the practices of its leadership, Huffington Post reported that Wages added famed conservative Phyllis Schlafly and “an exhibit about motherhood” to the NWHM website after conservative senators stopped a bill similar to H.R. 863 from passing in 2010. Huffington Post noted that Wages “also stacked the board with well-connected Republican women and hired several consultants with strong GOP ties” after the 2010 bill was halted.
At the time, Wages told USA TODAY that the museum would “not … do an exhibit on [abortion] because we have to raise $400 million. We cannot afford, literally, to focus on issues that are divisive.”
The museum's website highlights Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger in its section on “The Birth Control Movement.” No mention of Sanger's eugenicist views is mentioned.
Another section of the website, a biography of Sanger, describes Sanger's impact on the world. “More than any other single person, she originated the mindset that allowed for rational control of human population, after millions of others throughout the millennia of history chose to ignore fundamental issues of reproduction,” it states. The biography references her 1920 book, Women and the New Race, as “respectful of physicians, but also of eugenicists, even those who argued for 'racial purity.'”
H.R. 863 overwhelmingly passed on Wednesday 383-33. A spokesperson for Sen. Tom Coburn, R-OK, who halted the 2010 bill, told LifeSiteNews that Coburn's “position hasn't changed” on the concerns he expressed at the time about the museum.
This is the fourth time legislation related to the museum has passed one chamber of Congress. The first two times took place in the 108th and 109th Congresses, under GOP leadership. The 2010 vote passed the House by voice vote, under Democratic leadership.