In her e-mail, Rosen referenced an editorial Heaven wrote for the Waco-Tribune Herald on Feb. 28, 2004, in response to a local boycott of the Girl Scouts for having named Planned Parenthood of Central Texas executive director Pam Smallwood a "Woman of Distinction." In it, Heavin derides Planned Parenthood literature, asserting, "I have a 10-year-old daughter. I would absolutely not allow her to be exposed to this material. I don't want her being taught masturbation and told that homosexuality is normal." Heavin identifies his $5 million gifts to the three Texas health charities as a venture called "the Women's Health Collaborative Project."

It's this umbrella organization that has created the most confusion about Heavin's alleged ties to Operation Save America. The confusion stems from a letter posted on the Operation Save America Web site by Rusty Lee Thomas, an assistant director at Operation Rescue/Operation Save America. In the letter, Thomas describes telephoning Heavin last year for support in his mission to destroy Planned Parenthood; his letter asserts that Heavin was supportive. He then reports on Heavin's formation of the Women's Health Collaborative Project and commends Heavin's three charities as worthy participants in the anti-abortion crusade. Thomas concludes that "Mr. Heavin has removed the mask of legitimacy from Planned Parenthood and is helping to make their 'services' obsolete." Thomas' letter, which was signed "In King Jesus' Service," was headlined "Women's Collaborative Effort" -- close enough to Heavin's "Women's Health Collaborative Project" that it looked like there was a link between the men, and thus between their organizations.

But even Planned Parenthood's Smallwood drew a very sharp line between the fuzzy Operation Save America connections and the charities to which Heavin has actually contributed. By phone, she emphasized that there has been a lot of "misinformation" on the Web regarding the Curves founder. The Heavin-supported Family Practice Center, she said, "is a very necessary and worthwhile organization in Waco. They don't practice abortions, but they are a primary care facility for indigent populations and people who are uninsured. Without it, thousands of people would not be able to receive medical care." As for the Care Net Pregnancy Crisis Center, Smallwood said, "Although we don't agree certainly on abortion, they do not participate in demonstrations against our organization, as some other groups do." And about the McLennan County Abstinence Project, Smallwood said, "Again, we don't agree with each other's approaches regarding sex education. But they are not in the business of attacking us or demonstrating in front of Planned Parenthood, as are some of the organizations it was initially suggested Mr. Heavin was connected to. I have no idea how that information got started," she said.

"I had a 40-minute phone call with Gary Heavin," said lawyer and franchise owner Marx. "I asked him questions like a lawyer asks questions, so that I could go back to my customers and tell them the truth: that he had no relationship to Rusty Lee Thomas, no relationship with Save America, no relationship with Operation Rescue." Why does she believe him? "He's not backing away from what his beliefs are," Marx said. "He's not apologizing for what he does believe but he is clearing up things that are not accurate."

Indeed, in a letter sent to franchisees on Friday, May 14, the day after the Chronicle correction, and obtained by Salon, Heavin expressed his concern about the fallout from the story at the same time that he underlined the strength of his beliefs. "Imagine having to defend a five million dollar gift that went primarily to our local county health clinic that simply cares for the indigent," wrote Heavin. "Or having to defend a gift to a crisis pregnancy center that provides health care and adoption services so that women who choose to keep their babies might be able to do so." The letter went on, "I will be careful to support organizations that are responsible and reasonable. Unfortunately, the experiences of the past two weeks have shown us that being pro-life and Christian are qualities seen as unreasonable by certain groups. I will not compromise what I believe in just because there's a chance someone may choose to distort it." Heavin signed the letter, "God bless you and your Curves."

Of course none of this answers the question of how pro-choice women should digest all this news. For some, the argument revolves around the way the franchise owners and Curves customers -- many of them lifelong feminists -- have been hurt.

Charylu Roberts, who bought her Curves locations in June 2003, said she knew from the start that she and Heavin didn't have a lot in common. "I found out right away that Gary Heavin was a Christian and that Curves was out of Texas; that set off red flags, and so I did further research," she said. "I worked for Planned Parenthood for two years; I've had an abortion. I'm one of the strongest pro-choice people in the universe. You better believe I did my homework." But, she said, she was satisfied enough with what she found -- that her CEO was a Christian fundamentalist, but that he did not contribute to causes that she radically opposed. "For me this was a dream come true," said Roberts, who has owned a music publishing business for 17 years. "It was a chance to give back and work with women and women's health issues, and it was a good thing for women first getting into new businesses."

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