COLUMBUS - A Butler County lawmaker compared Planned Parenthood to Nazis on her official Facebook page, which has since been unpublished.
State Rep. Candice Keller, R-Middletown, posted an image comparing the Planned Parenthood logo to a swastika on her public page. Keller, who serves as executive director of the Community Pregnancy Center in Middletown, is unabashedly anti-abortion and opposes Planned Parenthood, which provides abortions along with other health care services.
"Just as the Nazis took the lives of millions of innocent people and sold their valuables for profit, Planned Parenthood has done likewise as we have seen in hidden camera videos," Keller said in defense of her post. "Planned Parenthood is a horrific industry that profits from the innocent and the American people should be appalled at their unconscionable activities. They deserve not one more penny of either federal or state monies."
When a liberal advocacy group told Keller on Twitter that it would donate to Planned Parenthood on the lawmaker's behalf, Keller responded that she had donors who would give double to "pro-life" organizations.
It's not uncommon for evangelical leaders and abortion opponents to equate abortion with the Holocaust. The Rev. Franklin Graham, an evangelist, compared fundraising for Planned Parenthood to "raising money to fund a Nazi death camp" in a February Facebook post.
Ohio Speaker Cliff Rosenberger, R-Clarksville, through a spokesman, called the post inappropriate.
“Speaker Rosenberger understands that there is a lot of passion around the issue of protecting the unborn and Planned Parenthood. That being said, he does not believe that using such comparisons is an appropriate way to convey that passion or to advance the public discourse,” spokesman Brad Miller said.
Keller's Facebook post was shared with the Greater Cincinnati Politics page, where one member called the image "irresponsible and repugnant." Keller's post, along with her Facebook page, have since disappeared, but screen shots of the image remain.
Keller said on Twitter that she unpublished rather than deleted her page.
