Womens groups that came out in force to support Dr. Christine Blasey Ford in leveling her unsubstantiated sexual assault allegations against then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, are nowhere to be seen now that a sexual assault allegation has been leveled at former Vice President — and presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee — Joe Biden.
The Daily Beast attempted to contact 10 women’s rights organizations, including Planned Parenthood, NARAL, Emily’s List, the National Organization for Women, and others to get their comments on Tara Reade’s claim that Joe Biden sexually assaulted her while she worked as an aide in his Senate office in the early 1990s. Reade made the claim several years ago and repeated it on a progressive podcast earlier in April.
Reade has little to prove her allegations, but does have some evidence that she gave contemporaneous accounts of the attack to her brother, coworker, and neighbor, all of whom seem to substantiate Reade’s story. Reade’s mother, who has since passed away, cannot directly corroborate Reade’s claims, but in a newly resurfaced tape from the mid-1990s, a woman, believed to be Reade’s mother, can be heard asking a “Larry King Live” panel how to handle a powerful man in Washington with whom her daughter had an “issue” — and whether to bring that issue to authorities.
The Daily Beast says all ten organizations refused comment.
“The Daily Beast contacted 10 top national pro-women organizations for this story, including Emily’s List, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, NARAL Pro-Choice America, and the National Organization for Women,” the outlet reported Wednesday. “Most organizations did not respond to a detailed request for comment about the allegation by Tara Reade, a former staff assistant in Biden’s Senate office who has accused the former vice president of forcibly penetrating her with his fingers in the early 1990s. Others replied and did not provide a statement.”
“One prominent women’s political group cited a scheduling conflict and asked to be kept ‘in mind for other opportunities!’ When pressed if the following day would work better, an associate said it would not, citing another scheduling conflict,” the Daily Beast continued.
The outlet labeled the incident a “near-total lack of acknowledgement.”
The code of silence extends to Biden’s slate of potential running mates. The Washington Post reports that despite several recent appearances on network news programs, neither Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), nor Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) have commented on Reade’s allegations.
Planned Parenthood, NARAL, NOW, and Emily’s List were all actively involved in anti-Kavanaugh efforts and held near-constant protests outside of the U.S. Capitol, and in a number of state capitals, during Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings. Planned Parenthood was one of the primary sponsors behind the final “Cancel Kavanaugh” protest that drew out celebrities like Amy Schumer and Whoopi Goldberg, among thousands of other demonstrators.
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