A new phenomenon appears to be taking place at Planned Parenthood. In what was a shock to many, in 2018, political activist president Cecile Richards suddenly announced her resignation, followed by that of VP Dawn Laguens and VP of Communications, Kevin Griffis, among others. Planned Parenthood hired ER doctor Leana Wen — who has called abortion “health care” — to replace Richards, and vowed that abortion will be its focus in 2019. But at the same time, employees of the so-called “women’s rights organization” are spilling long-held secrets and exposing inner workings and toxic attitudes of the organization, founded 100 years ago by eugenicist Margaret Sanger. While these revelations might come as a surprise to pro-choicers, pro-lifers know that the organization’s roots have been rotten since its inception.
Lower level staffers revolt against Planned Parenthood’s corporate greed
While Planned Parenthood as a corporation was busy raking in millions in excess revenue over the past several years, its staffers claim it failed to pay them a decent wage. As a result, Planned Parenthood employees began unionizing. A report from In These Times claims Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains (PPRM) employees first began organizing in 2016, and it was the sixth local affiliate to do so. “In at least two of these cases, the local employer was accused of attempting to squelch worker organizing,” the media outlet reported.
But why did PPRM employees attempt to unionize?
Their key issues included wages—according to the union, the median annual wage for PPRM employees is $35,000, which is at the low end of the median range for health workers given by the Bureau of Labor Statistics—high staff turnover and prohibitively high costs of adding family members to employee health insurance.”
When employees spoke out, staffers claim Planned Parenthood intimidated them.
Suzanne Thorp, who has worked for PPRM since 2013, claims PPRM revoked her ticket to a fundraiser out of fear she would encourage donors not to use their dollars for anti-union efforts. A June 2018 post published on the Facebook page of the PPRM Union Bargaining Team claims the organization called the police after Thorp showed up outside the event. The abortion corporation later denied the claim.
READ: Planned Parenthood ignores safety, wants non-doctors to commit abortions
Another alleged staffer wrote about Planned Parenthood’s fight against unionizing on Instagram: “Friends – today is my last day working for Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains…. PPRM’s management have only pushed back in order to keep us from accessing our basic employee rights…. I’ve given the last two years of my life to this cause that I love so much and to see my colleagues bullied like this by the agency they have worked so hard for breaks my f**king heart…”
Others joined in:
Grim added in another tweet, “I know @CecileRichards is gone but really is this the new regime? Affiliates spending ‘up to a million dollars’ to block union efforts.”
Employees publicly complain about shoddy treatment
In addition to low wages, one PPRM staffer took to Twitter to reveal that Planned Parenthood even looked down on employees for taking their rightfully earned work breaks:
“Solstice Fairy” added in another tweet, “Stop shouting ‘SELF CARE!!!!’ at us when we say we need a moment to pee or drink or eat. Taking a lunch break is not self care. It is a federally mandated right of employees working more than 6 hours in a day….”
Reviews published at Indeed.com (more not shown here) display more worker dissatisfaction:
Other review make it clear that patients are herded through like cattle, stating that “they schedule you patients every 10 minutes.”
READ: Investigative Report: Planned Parenthood affiliate CEO salaries still climbing
Planned Parenthood appears to be rotting from within as staffers expose the organization’s hypocrisy. The most recent example occurred when Planned Parenthood whistleblowers told the New York Times the abysmal way the organization discriminates against pregnant employees.
Prior to that report, Live Action News revealed that Planned Parenthood insiders in Nashville exposed how the corporation’s leaders were prioritizing profits over care, something pro-lifers have known for years.
A brief history: Planned Parenthood’s push for abortion always wins over actual health care
Prioritizing profits over care isn’t new for Planned Parenthood. Years after founder Margaret Sanger died, Alan F. Guttmacher, a physician and former VP of the Eugenics Society, took the reins. Guttmacher was obsessed with population control and led the corporation to become an abortion vendor. Later, Faye Wattleton, an African American woman, was appointed president (chosen, many believe, to quell suspicion of eugenics among the Black community), who doubled down on promoting abortion. Years later, president Pamela Maraldo attempted to tone down the abortion emphasis with an effort to reinvent the corporation into a health care organization, but was ousted by pro-abortion zealots on the inside.
READ: Report: Planned Parenthood discriminated against pregnant employees
Planned Parenthood eventually appointed Cecile Richards, who had no health care experience, to supervise the surge of abortions, tax dollars, excess revenue, and CEO salaries — all while Planned Parenthood’s actual health services and clients plummeted. Richards’ goal was to build the abortion corporation into the largest “kick butt political organization” to reinforce Planned Parenthood’s political laundering scheme. She presided over numerous scandals, accusations of fraud, the cover-up of child sexual abuse, and much more.
What is emerging today is a truer picture of Planned Parenthood as its image begins to show cracks, even in the way it treats employees and patients. It has for too long masqueraded as a health care organization while tragically ending the lives of over 320,000 preborn children each year by abortion.