Former Planned Parenthood worker: They expected me to sell 40 abortions a day

In an article in “The American Feminist,” former abortion workers described what they saw in the abortion industry. One woman, identified as Annette, quit her work as a Planned Parenthood staffer when she became frustrated with Planned Parenthood’s insistence that she schedule 40 abortions per day.

Annette uses the term “emotional manipulation” to describe how Planned Parenthood counselors treated women coming in with unplanned pregnancies. According to the author of the article, Ellen J. Reich:

On many occasions, [Annette] saw women expressing doubts [about abortion], but observed the staff response as uniformly encouraging…. Once, Annette observed the clinic director meeting with a client. To Annette, the woman was asking endless questions and seemed anything but certain about her decision. The patient kept repeating, “I’m really not sure.”

When Annette and the director left the interview room, the director told the staff that the patient was “just fine” and ready to proceed. Annette spoke up and said she didn’t see it that way. … Annette got such heat for speaking up she did not do it again.

Annette’s reluctance to pressure vulnerable women into abortions brought her into conflict with her supervisors. She sent women home if they were unsure about having an abortion. But she got in trouble with the administrators of the abortion facility, who told her she was expected to schedule 40 abortions a day. Each facility worker was required to meet that number.

Annette became so frustrated that she decided to speak up at an April 2016 staff meeting. She asked the assembled Planned Parenthood officials:

“Do I have an abortion quota?” She asked. “Because that’s really what it feels like.”

“I was livid at this point, and I had no more filter. I just kept saying, ‘This really feels like you’re running a herding clinic.’ All of the other staff chimed in and said, ‘Yes, that’s exactly how we feel,’ and we were told absolutely not. There is no abortion quota.” … Annette went back and forth with them for almost an hour. The conclusion of the conversation was, ‘Yes, they expect a certain number of procedures a day, but no, this is not a quota.'”

Even though Planned Parenthood officials refused to use the word “quota,” it was clear to Annette that there was a quota for abortions. The requirement that 40 abortions be scheduled by each abortion “counselor” every day was clearly a quota, whether higher-ups at Planned Parenthood used the term or not.

Planned Parenthood’s Abortion Quotas

Annette quit right after the meeting and is now telling people the truth about Planned Parenthood. She says:

“We were always told that it’s all up to the woman,” Annette said, yet the behaviors at Planned Parenthood were designed to encourage women to choose abortions. “The emotional manipulation of others is what got to me the most.”

Source: Ellen J. Reich “An Insider’s Look into the Abortion Industry,” “The American Feminist“ Fall/Winter 2016.