A prominent abortionist who calls himself a Christian has been accused of sexual misconduct against multiple women.
Willie Parker is a well-known figurehead of the pro-abortion movement. He speaks at events all across the country and has been profiled by major news outlets. Parker calls himself a “Christian” and his abortion work a “ministry.”
But one fellow abortion activist came forward this week with allegations against Parker that she says have been hushed up by the movement for years.
In an open letter at Medium, Candice Russell described the rumors of Parker’s alleged misconduct, as well as her own encounter with him several years ago.
“Everyone agreed he was a predator,” but Russell was told that exposing him would hurt the movement, according to her letter.
Russell said she and Parker communicated for several years before their one-night stand. At the time, apparently, she had been unaware of the rumors about Parker’s alleged sexual misconduct.
“My memories of the night I spent with Willie are as out of focus and frayed around the edges as you would expect them to be after four martinis and an entire bottle of wine, gaps and spaces in time where things get too blurry to be able to make out,” she remembered.
According to Russell’s account, Parker seemed to be plying her with alcohol at dinner to get her to bed.
“After two years of refusals to let me pick up a tab, I knew I had to do it on the sly,” she said. “That’s how I discovered that what I had always assumed were vodka tonics [that Parker was drinking] had been soda water and lime. … every single encounter we had ever had since we met involved him suggesting we grab a drink.”
Russell admitted that she should have left, but she stayed anyway and drank more. She said she does not remember much more about the evening, but they apparently had sex while she was extremely drunk and he was not.
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The next morning, she said she immediately felt “dirty and uncomfortable and wrong.”
Since then, Russell said she has heard other rumors of inappropriate sexual behavior. Russell said she confided her story in a fellow activist, and the person told her that they had heard a similar story about Parker from another woman.
At another point, Russell said she attended an abortion conference where a complete stranger referred to her “as ‘one of Willie’s girls’ with enough innuendo in her tone to ensure I knew exactly what she meant.”
Russell said she felt like she had to keep quiet, though. She wondered if other women have been mistreated by Parker and silenced as well.
“How many of you were told, like I was, that disclosing would hurt the movement and our chances at surviving the ongoing attacks being made against abortion access?” Russell questioned.
She said she decided to go public after three different friends sent her videos of Parker allegedly dancing uncomfortably close to a woman on stage at an ACN (presumably Abortion Care Network) conference in Las Vegas.
The videos just added to the rumors of “inappropriate and predatory behavior” in her mind. Fearing that the allegations would continue to be swept under the rug, Russell said she decided to come forward.
About the same time as her letter was published, the National Network of Abortion Funds [NAF] announced that it is distancing itself from Parker, according to Jezebel. NAF has a fund named after Parker, but the group said it already is in the process of changing that.
NAF said it stands “in solidarity with those who have come forward” in accusing Parker.
Among his many awards and positions in the abortion movement, Parker is the chair of the board of Physicians for Reproductive Health, according to the report. He also works as an abortionist at several southern abortion facilities, including in Mississippi and Alabama.
