Regional Officers

Regional Chair
May 17, 2019
Alan B. Gubernick

Executive Vice Chair

Douglas S. Stanger

Vice Chairs
Edward S. Blumenthal
Hope Comisky
Moses Feldman Michael Ciccocioppo
Jeremy B. Fogel
Eric Green
Andy Kaplin
Executive Director
Steve Mendelsohn
Dr. Joan Parker Pennsylvanians for Human Life
Development Chair 4800 Jonestown Rd. Ste. 102
Edward S. Blumenthal
Harrisburg, PA 17109-1741
Regional Staff
Regional Director
Nancy K. Baron-Baer

Director of
Development
Lisa Welsch Dear Mr. Ciccocioppo,
Senior Associate
Regional Director
Robin Burstein
On behalf of ADL (“the Anti-Defamation League”), we are writing to express our dismay
Senior Associate
Regional Director, at reports that the Scranton chapter of Pennsylvanians for Human Life sent a graphic
Education
Randi Boyette
email comparing abortion in the United States to the Holocaust. This analogy is
Associate Regional
Director historically inaccurate, inappropriate, and offensive, and we urge Pennsylvanians for
Jeremy Bannett
Human Life to immediately discontinue and disavow the use of this painful comparison.
Associate Director
of Development
Daniel H. Keefer
ADL is a leading anti-hate organization. Founded in 1913 in response to an escalating
Education Director,
NO PLACE FOR HATE®
Lisa Friedlander
climate of anti-Semitism and bigotry, our mission is to protect the Jewish people and to
Associate Education
secure justice and fair treatment for all.
Director
Lindsay Shafer

Assistant Director, The concerning email allegedly included an attachment of an image of numerous dead
Young Leadership
and Digital Engagement bodies in a trailer superimposed with the text “HOLOCAUST VICTIMS, 1940’S, 6
Andrea Heymann
MILLION,” as well as an image of dead infants in a bag superimposed with the text
Assistant Director
of Development “ABORTION VICTIMS, 1973 TO PRESENT, OVER 60 MILLION.” Such analogies – and
Rachel Greenberg

Office Manager
the inexcusable intimation that abortion in the United States is ten times more horrific
Susan Robinson than the worst genocide of the 20th Century – belittle the memory of the millions of Jews
National Officers
National Chair and others victims of the Nazi regime. This email cynically and indefensibly
Esta Gordon Epstein
misappropriates a profoundly tragic historical event for political purposes.
CEO and National Director
Jonathan A. Greenblatt

Deputy National Director Once again, we implore you to reject any and all Holocaust comparisons, and to publicly
Kenneth Jacobson
renounce these analogies.

Sincerely,

Nancy K. Baron-Baer
Regional Director

ADL Philadelphia – Serving Eastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey and Delaware
1500 Market Street, Suite 2415, West Tower, Philadelphia, PA 19102 | t: 215.568.2223 | f: 215.568.5526
Philadelphia@adl.org | philadelphia.adl.org