Seattle's Madame Restell

Madame Restell was the famed New York City abortionist who plied her trade in the mid- to late 1800s. In the end she took her own life at her palatial home located on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Fifty-second Street with an estate estimated to be worth over $1,000,000 at the time.

The beautiful mansion was built upon property her husband bought the property when prices were low.

With the rise in real estate Lohman (Restell's husband) sold the upper portion of the property, but kept the 125 feet front where the Restell residence and the Osborne flats were subsequently erected. When he built the Restell house he had to raise the sum of $27,000 and executed a mortgage for that amount to the Mutual Life Insurance Company. Mrs. Restell, while on bad terms with her husband, succeeded in buying up the mortgage without his knowledge.

Fast-forward to 2005 and Seattle, Washington.

You'll have to take my word for it but this notice (now removed) appeared on the City of Seattle's Women's Commission web site in July of 2005.

Aradia Women's Health Center is seeking 2-3 new board members in 2005 to support our mission providing compassionate, personalized women's reproductive care rooted in a unique advocacy-based healthcare model. In particular, we're seeking new board members to help Aradia Women's Health Center move forward on its newly developed Strategic Plan in order to ensure the success of the organization for the next 30+ years...We're looking for persons with a deep commitment to women's healthcare and reproductive rights, including safe and legal abortion services. Skills all board members must possess are: prior volunteer and/or board service for a nonprofit organization... We also are seeking persons with the following qualifications to strengthen the leadership of our team: Fundraising, Financial management/accounting, Real estate, Facilities planning, Legal, Culturally competency (sic) as it relates to the audiences we serve, Strategic planning and evaluation. Board members are asked to make a two-year commitment of approximately three hours per week to the organization. (italics mine)

Marcy Bloom of Aradia Women's clinic told John Carlson in a March of 2005 interview on his show there was "no money" in abortion. So why do they need board members with a specialty in "Real Estate"?