Recently ousted Planned Parenthood president and CEO Dr. Leana Wen spoke out about why she and the abortion giant parted ways. In an op-ed piece for The New York Times on Friday, Wen pulled back the curtain and revealed that Planned Parenthood is not concerned about health care, but politics.
Citing “philosophical differences over the best way to protect reproductive health” as the reason that she was asked to leave Planned Parenthood, Wen said that she has “long believed that the most effective way to advance reproductive health is to be clear that it is not a political issue but a health care one.” She wanted to expand the support for Planned Parenthood by “[f]inding common ground with the large majority of Americans who can unite behind the goal of improving the health and well-being of women and children.” It turns out the board of Planned Parenthood didn’t agree with this mission.
Wen failed to prioritize abortion
“Indeed,” wrote Wen, “there was immediate criticism that I did not prioritize abortion enough.”
If Wen has convinced herself that Planned Parenthood is about anything other than abortion, she isn’t alone. Many Americans — even some who consider themselves to be pro-life — support Planned Parenthood because they believe the lie that the abortion corporation is about more than abortion. It’s not, and Wen’s firing is evidence of this.
Planned Parenthood has repeatedly claimed that abortion only accounts for three percent of its services. But it didn’t take more than a little math to figure out that was a complete lie (watch the video below to see how Planned Parenthood accomplishes this deception). Over half of Planned Parenthood’s non-governmental revenue comes from abortions alone. It’s their bread and butter. When it became apparent Wen was determined to focus on health care over abortion, she was fired.
Wen wanted to “depoliticize” Planned Parenthood
“Another area of contention was my attempt to depoliticize Planned Parenthood,” Wen wrote.
The problem here is that Planned Parenthood has an entire political arm that donates millions, almost entirely to Democratic politicians. In return, it receives half a billion taxpayer dollars annually. Planned Parenthood’s mission has never been about health care. It was founded by Margaret Sanger, a eugenicist who wanted to control the population — specifically the population of people she deemed unfit. From the beginning, Planned Parenthood has been about politics and power.
READ: Planned Parenthood: ‘We aim to be the largest kick-butt political organization’
Wen wanted to expand legitimate health care services
Wen recognized Planned Parenthood’s legitimate health care services were in serious decline and attempted to improve that. Planned Parenthood performs less than one percent of the nation’s pap tests and less than two percent of the nation’s breast exams. They don’t even provide mammograms, despite their claims. Yet they commit more than 30 percent of the nation’s abortions.
“With high-quality, affordable health care out of reach for so many, Planned Parenthood has a duty to maximize its reach,” wrote Wen. “I began efforts to increase care for women before, during and after pregnancies, and to enhance critically-needed services like mental health and addiction treatment.”
But Planned Parenthood wanted no part in expanding medical care outside of the realm of abortion, because abortion is what makes them money. Not prenatal care. Not mental health care. Not childhood vaccinations, as Wen claims some Planned Parenthood locations provide. She wanted all of that and Planned Parenthood wanted none of it and they criticized her for attempting to make Planned Parenthood into the organization it claims to be.
“[…] the team that I brought in, experts in public health and health policy, faced daily internal opposition from those who saw my goals as mission creep,” Wen explained. “There was even more criticism as we worked to change the perception that Planned Parenthood was just a progressive political entity to show that it was first and foremost a mainstream health care organization.”
That was Wen’s fatal mistake, trusting that Planned Parenthood was actually the mainstream health care organization that it claims to be. It never has been and it never will be, and it’s obvious now more than ever that it has never even wanted to be. Planned Parenthood was founded for one reason: to keep control of the population — especially the underprivileged and people of color — and through abortion, it is continuing its founder’s mission. It cares little for the women it maims and even less for their children.
“But in the end, I was asked to leave for the same reason I was hired: I was changing the direction of Planned Parenthood,” said Wen. Wen failed to realize that Planned Parenthood’s compass has long been pointed in one direction: abortion.
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