Hackers Have Declared War On Planned Parenthood
It’s been a rough summer for Planned Parenthood, and it appears that it’s not getting easier any time soon.
As first reported by the Daily Dot , the organization, long known for providing women affordable gynecological care and education, including abortion services, has now come under attack from hackers.
The hacking supposedly occurred this past Sunday, with an hacker by the name of ‘E’ claiming credit for the attack as part of an group called 3301. “Trying to mold an atrocious monstrosity into socially acceptable behaviors is repulsive,” ‘E’ told the Daily Dot in an email. “Obviously what [Planned Parenthood] does is a very ominous practice. It'll be interesting to see what surfaces when [Planned Parenthood] is stripped naked and exposed to the public.”
On Monday, the organization at least confirmed that an attack has happened. “Today Planned Parenthood has notified the Department of Justice and separately the FBI that extremists who oppose Planned Parenthood's mission and services have launched an attack on our information systems, and have called on the world's most sophisticated hackers to assist them in breaching our systems and threatening the privacy and safety of our staff members,” said Dawn Laguens, Planned Parenthood’s executive vice president, in a statement.
According to ‘E’, the hackers have already released the information of Planned Parenthood employees on their website and further plan to release its internal emails and other files. But it’s unknown at this point the veracity of those claims.
Earlier this month, Planned Parenthood was the target of several hidden camera videos (three, as of now) that purportedly showed its employees discussing and negotiating the selling of aborted fetal tissue — claims which the organization and its defenders have vigorously denied as outright lies.
While fetal tissue is often donated, with the full consent of the patient, to medical research labs, Planned Parenthood and its affiliates do not financially benefit from the transaction, according to Cecilie Richards, president of Planned Parenthood. Richards denounced the videos as deceptive and edited propaganda produced by an anti-abortion group in her own video response last week.
That defense has not stopped renewed calls to strip away federal funding for the organization, with the Senate fast-tracking legislation intended to do so this past Sunday. “We’re going to see if we can have a meeting of the minds on what’s the best way to deal with these horrendous videos that we’ve all been viewing,” Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a statement on Tuesday. A Senate vote will come as early as next week, according to Politico , though it’s unlikely to succeed past a Democratic filibuster.
None of the federal funding available currently is allowed to be used in providing abortion services.