Former Planned Parenthood workers tell of coercion and lies in abortion ‘counseling’

Many former Planned Parenthood workers have come forward saying that, in their experience, Planned Parenthood does not give women who are considering abortion accurate information about abortion’s health risks or about their baby’s development. These former workers say they were required to try to sell as many abortions as possible without regard for the pregnant woman’s welfare (much less that of the preborn child’s).

Live Action recently released a video featuring former Planned Parenthood employees Sue Thayer and Marianne Anderson, who say that Planned Parenthood actually has abortion quotas. They were given incentives to push for an expected number of abortions over a given time frame. Some of these incentives were pizza parties, awards, and lunches out. The video below shows what happens when women call Planned Parenthood to ask about their options:

Pregnant women call Planned Parenthood to hear about their options

In The American Feminist, a third Planned Parenthood worker reveals that she was told to sell at least 40 abortions a day. She calls the “counseling” given by Planned Parenthood workers “emotional manipulation.”

The American Feminist article describes how the worker, Annette B, witnessed an interaction between the clinic director and a woman who was unsure about having an abortion:

She finally asked, in a staff meeting:

Her employers first denied there was a “quota.” But as she argued, they admitted that workers were expected to sell 40 abortions a day.

Read more about Annette here.

Other former Planned Parenthood workers have written about how the abortion counseling at their facilities was biased and manipulative.

La Verne Tolbert, a former Planned Parenthood-New York City board member, admits:

Planned Parenthood withholds this information from women because they know women are less likely to choose abortion if they know the facts.

Another former Planned Parenthood worker, Catherine Anthony Adair, counseled patients who were about to undergo abortions. By the time the women got to Adair, they had already paid for their abortions. Adair says:

Legally, Adair had to ask the women if they knew they could carry to term or put the baby up for adoption. But she never elaborated on those options. “[W]e didn’t get into any options counseling,” she says. And neither did the Planned Parenthood employees heard in Live Action’s latest video, despite the fact that their centers claim to offer resources on all options for pregnant women:

Adair says she also never gave women facts about fetal development:

Another former Planned Parenthood worker, “Ellen,” says she was reprimanded for giving women information on abortion alternatives. From And Then There Were None:

Lavonne Wilenken, former Planned Parenthood facility worker, describes how Planned Parenthood workers would frighten pregnant teens into having abortions:

During her time at Planned Parenthood, Wilenken even witnessed abortion workers commit an abortion on a 17-year-old girl against her will.

Former Planned Parenthood facility director Abby Johnson says:

Obviously, these “rules” led to more women having abortions.

These are just a few examples of former Planned Parenthood workers who now admit they were told to lie and manipulate women in order to sell abortions. There are other examples, but this sampling of former Planned Parenthood workers, many of whom had never met each other, tells similar stories about what goes on at Planned Parenthood.