Women’s March co-founder Tamika D. Mallory poses with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. Image by Instagram

By Aiden Pink March 8, 2018

A regional chapter of Planned Parenthood announced Wednesday that it was cancelling a planned speech by Women’s March co-president Tamika D. Mallory amid a growing controversy over her ties to the anti-Semitic preacher Louis Farrakhan.

Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest and Hawaii, which represents the states of Washington, Alaska, Idaho and Hawaii, issued a statement announcing that they were disinviting Mallory from giving a keynote speech in April at its annual fundraising luncheon in Seattle.

“When historic numbers of women took to the streets more than a year ago, it was to stand up and say they stood for women’s rights, equity and justice — for people of ALL backgrounds, identities, and ideologies,” the organization said. “When leaders of the Women’s March — or any allied group — stray from these aspirations, we will do everything we can to help them return to our shared mission.”

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Mallory has come under harsh criticism in the past few weeks over her longstanding support for Farrakhan, including attending one of his rallies last month. “Thank God this man is still alive and doing well,” she wrote on her social media last year.

Farrakhan has been known to make anti-Semitic comments for decades, including calling Adolf Hitler “a very great man” and claiming that Jews were behind the 9/11 terror attacks.

In response to the controversy, Mallory wrote an article on Wednesday that did not include an apology or a denunciation of Farrakhan.

Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink

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