Former Waitress-Turned-Author Says She Used Portion of $4K in Tips From Rush Limbaugh to Fund Abortions to Spite Him
A former waitress-turned-author who just released her debut novel said she twice waited on conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh and used a portion of the $4,000 in tips he left her to fund abortions, just so she could spite him.
Merritt Tierce of Dallas, Texas, who authored the novel Love Me Back told The Dallas Morning News that she used to work at Nick and Sam's Steakhouse and recalled waiting on Limbaugh twice. She explained that on both occasions Limbaugh left her a $2,000 tip on modest checks.
The tips were "like blood money to me," she said, explaining that she does not share Limbaugh's social conservative views.
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At the time, Tierce was the executive director of the TEA Fund, an organization that claims to pay for a small portion of the cost of abortions for low-income women.
The organization, however, advises women that before they will provide monetary assistance, even $50 to $100, they must first prove that they've sold their belongings, such as furniture, electronics, and even their vehicle to pay for the cost of their abortion, according to a CP reporter who contacted the TEA Fund.
Tierce said she donated a significant amount of Limbaugh's tips to that organization.
"It felt like laundering the money in a good way," she told The Dallas Morning News. "He's such an obvious target for any feminist or sane person. It was really bizarre to me that he gave me $2,000, and he's evil incarnate in some ways."
In a recent op-ed in The New York Times, Tierce also revealed that she underwent two abortions after becoming pregnant five times from risky sexual behavior.
"I have been pregnant five times. I had a son, then a daughter, and my third pregnancy ended in abortion at a Planned Parenthood clinic, at a gestation of about six weeks," she wrote.
"I had an abortion because we were poor and I was depressed and I didn't know who the father was. I had been having an affair. My kids were 2 and 3, and the debilitating morning sickness, which I experienced early in each of my pregnancies, made it difficult to work or care for two toddlers," she explained.
Tierce said she aborted another pregnancy again because she was angry at the man she was seeing.
"I got pregnant again soon after, but miscarried. A few years later I had another abortion because the man I was seeing was emotionally abusive. I had no control in that relationship, so I sabotaged my birth control to get some back. The whole situation was a complete abscess," she said.
Tierce also argues in the op-ed that it's time to stop seeing abortion as good or evil.
"We have to stop categorizing abortions as justified or unjustified. The best thing you can do if you support reproductive rights is to force people to realize that abortion is common, and the most common abortion is a five-to-15-minute procedure elected early in the first trimester by someone who doesn't want to be pregnant or have a child. It's our job to say it's OK if that's the end of the story. It's OK if it's boring or not traumatic or if you don't even know what it was," she said.
Some people reacting to her claim on her Facebook page said they believed Tierce was seeking to drum up publicity for her book.
"I'm not falling for it. IF she was tipped by Rush Limbaugh, she kept the money and is using Mr. Limbaugh's name to get some spotlight. She is fake like the rest of the liberals," wrote Steve Lemons.
On Amazon, her book, Love Me Back has a rating of just over two stars, but more than half of those who rated it gave it a one star review.
