Earlier this year, Cecile Richards, long-time president of Planned Parenthood, announced that she would be stepping down, giving up a $1 million yearly salary and a legacy that includes over 3.5 million abortions. For months, there was no word on who would take the helm of America’s largest abortion corporation — until now.
Today, Planned Parenthood announced that Dr. Leana Wen has taken over as the new president of Planned Parenthood.
Meet our new president, @DrLeanaWen. pic.twitter.com/kNTnYKzww7
— Planned Parenthood (@PPFA) September 12, 2018
Wen has an impressive background; a Chinese immigrant, she overcame a childhood where her family lived in poverty and became an emergency room physician. This will make her the first doctor to lead Planned Parenthood in over 50 years. She was also a faculty member at Harvard Medical School, as well as president of the American Medical Student Association, and the American Academy of Emergency Medicine/Resident and Student Association. She also served in both Geneva and Rwanda as a fellow for the World Health Organization and the Department of Defense, respectively. She also has served as a professor in emergency and health policy, as well as the Director of Patient-Centered Care Research, at George Washington University. Currently, she works as the Baltimore City Health Commissioner.
There’s no denying that Wen’s credentials as a physician are impressive — but will her goal be to increase health care at Planned Parenthood, or to promote abortion?
In the video announcing her new role as Planned Parenthood president, Wen says that having a physician as president is a sign that Planned Parenthood is providing mainstream health care. While the future of Planned Parenthood is yet to be seen, past behavior does not lead one to be optimistic, especially considering that Wen happily parrots the lie that Planned Parenthood is a vital provider of health care for Americans. Just one problem: Planned Parenthood had a doctor at the helm before — Alan Guttmacher — and his focus was population control, not “healthcare.”
At one time, Planned Parenthood did provide more health care for women, and even saw prenatal care — as opposed to abortion — as the future of the organization. But all that changed when Richards took over. Legitimate health care services have since plummeted, while abortions have increased.
Planned Parenthood now serves a small percentage of women, with less than 3% of women receiving legitimate health care services there. They perform less than 2 percent of all breast exams, less than 1 percent of all pap exams, and less than 2 percent of all cancer screenings. Prenatal care is virtually non-existent. It commits more abortions than any other organization in the country, despite lying to claim that abortion is only 3% of what it does.
Will Wen be fighting to change that? We can hope that this is true, but it seems unlikely. She has already promised to continue providing “the full range of reproductive health care” — a euphemism for abortion — and openly touts the need for abortion to remain legal. She also previously tried to force pregnancy resource centers to advertise for abortions, a decision that a federal appeals court overruled.
Wen says that she wants to fight for “the most vulnerable individuals on a bigger scale,” a laudable goal. But why, then, will she not fight for the most vulnerable among us: preborn human beings, who are targeted for death by the millions every single year? If she wants to fight for those who are vulnerable, in danger, and in need of care, then she should work to move Planned Parenthood away from abortion, and towards providing legitimate health care for women and their children alike.
Editor’s Note, 10/13/18: A figure claiming 94% of Planned Parenthood’s services to pregnant women is abortion was removed due to questions of percentage accuracy.
