Live Action News covered the story of Mayra Rodriguez, a former Planned Parenthood director who was fired when she exposed an abortionist who botched multiple abortions. She later won a $3 million judgment against Planned Parenthood for “wrongful termination.” Then, last month, And Then There Were None revealed how Planned Parenthood tried to frame Rodriguez, accusing her of having drugs at work.
Rodriguez had been highly regarded at Planned Parenthood:
I was named Employee of the Year throughout all of Arizona … My record within the company was flawless, never once receiving a reprimand or poor performance mark, and my respect among the executives was more than I could have ever wanted.
Then an abortionist almost sent a woman home with the head of her baby still inside her.
Rodriguez discovered this abortionist had an extensive history of complications and Planned Parenthood was aware of it but covered for him. Rodriguez began collecting evidence to expose the doctor. Before acting, she spoke to a friend:
I called my friend, a lead clinician of Planned Parenthood in AZ. “I need your advice,” I told her. “I’m about to do something big. I’m going to take down Doctor X… I have copies of everything he’s done in my desk. He’s dangerous. He has to go.”
“Please wait,” my friend replied. “Our clinics are going through an accreditation process and if you start making noise about him, it’s going to throw the whole organization on its ear. We won’t stand a chance of getting the mark we need.”
So, in order to protect Planned Parenthood, Rodriguez held off on blowing the whistle. However, Planned Parenthood higher-ups learned of her plan, either because her friend told them or because they were listening in on the phone call.
Rodriguez was called into the office and accused of various offenses. She was pressured to sign a document:
On the document were things like patient complaints about me, reports of a poorly kept personal office, missing money and even missing instruments from the procedure rooms. For someone who had never had a reprimand in 17 years, it appeared I was a veritable whirlwind of negligence and criminal activity.
The Planned Parenthood facility was using false accusations to discredit her. Rodriguez was overwhelmed:
I went home and lost it; I cried without restraint. What would I do now? I was an undocumented worker with a house payment and two kids in school. They knew I was as little and powerless as can be in the United States — an immigrant without legal status. Therefore, they knew all they had to do was raise the shadow of their Goliath over my David and I would never even consider making a move against them.
Rodriguez refused to sign the document. But things got even worse. She was accused of having drugs in her desk, was fired, and was escorted out of the building. The accusation, says Rodriguez, was false. Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood ransacked her office and disposed of her evidence against the doctor:
[M]y office, because of the drugs that were allegedly found, had been turned into a crime scene investigation and therefore, no non-essential people were allowed inside. I started receiving texts from my fellow employees that people were inside shredding documents. I was certain my stack of evidence that enumerated all of Doctor X’s sins and infractions had been destroyed. The plot was thickening fast.
Soon her former coworkers were asking her about her alleged drug abuse. She said, “It was clear Planned Parenthood was already waging a whisper campaign to sully my name. I was a little person who had given them 17 stellar years yet their tactics against me were ruthless.”
But Rodriguez fought back. She hired a lawyer and took Planned Parenthood to court. The lawyer pressured Planned Parenthood to divulge the time the drugs were allegedly found. Planned Parenthood claimed the drugs were found in her desk drawer at 2 PM on a Friday. However, that was around the time several Planned Parenthood employees went into her office and searched through her desk for a set of keys. As Rodriguez stated, “If drugs had been there, they would have been impossible to miss by the three employees who went back and forth to my desk that day. They all testified that none of them saw drugs at my desk. Planned Parenthood was caught in a lie.”
If not for this fortunate coincidence, Planned Parenthood might have gotten away with framing Rodriguez. They failed. Rodriguez said:
It took just three hours for the jury to deliberate… The jury unanimously ruled in my favor — I had been wrongfully terminated. In an amazing twist, they also awarded me three-million dollars from the Planned Parenthood coffers — and I never even asked for a monetary settlement.
Rodriguez now speaks out against Planned Parenthood and abortion.
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