Planned Parenthood employees describe corporation’s ‘systemic racism’ and ‘white supremacy’ problem

Planned Parenthood’s century of racist, eugenicist history has been relatively ignored by members of the media, Hollywood, and political allies. These elites have, at times, lectured the public that Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger and her board members (including a Ku Klux Klan leader), who started the infamous “Negro Project” and recommended that parents obtain licenses to bear children, were simply products of their time. Yet, reports indicate that the corporation is still steeped in racist philosophies and practices.

“White supremacy” problems

A recent open letter signed by hundreds of past and current Planned Parenthood of Greater New York employees alleges that the organization has current issues with “white supremacy.” The letter noted:

Planned Parenthood was founded by a racist, white woman. That is a part of history that cannot be changed…We know that Planned Parenthood has a history and a present steeped in white supremacy and we, the staff, are motivated to do the difficult work needed to improve.

Planned Parenthood staffers also allege that Planned Parenthood’s minority employees “have worked tirelessly under the thumb of White Supremacist Agenda.”

PPGNY’s employees claimed their CEO eliminated “an entire department of primarily Black and Latina women,” and a May 2019 letter sent to Planned Parenthood Federation of America claimed the CEO “likes to tokenize black people.” A separate staffer wrote, “A privileged white woman who has zero empathy is leading PPNYC, an organization that serves minority, underserved individuals who desperately need this care….” This employee also claimed a deliberate pay inequity existed between white and non-Black employees.

“Systemic racism” problems

Planned Parenthood’s “systemic racism” was recently acknowledged by Planned Parenthood Greater Washington and North Idaho on Twitter: “White supremacy and systemic racism permeate every American institution – including Planned Parenthood. We must reckon with the history of Planned Parenthood and that of the larger reproductive rights movement….”

Planned Parenthood Action New Hampshire published a similar admission, writing in part:

We know that systemic racism isn’t limited to police departments… It’s in our institutions, including Planned Parenthood… We need to examine how white supremacy of the past and present continues to reverberate in the institutions we are a part of today — including Planned Parenthood.

Employee complaints

In addition to their letter, PPGNY staffers also unleashed a litany of accusations accusing their CEO of instituting “a revenue-driven, assembly-line approach to PPGNY clinics – one that put patients, and in particular Black and other patients of color, at potential risk.”

“People of color are at the frontlines, but as you go through the ranks, it becomes whitewashed,” employee Michelle Adams told Jezebel. She described one of the corporation’s contraceptive initiatives as “white saviorism” and claimed PPGNY’s CEO encouraged the promotion of “long-term contraceptives, like IUDs,” in primarily Black and Latinx schools.  “You’re talking about public schools where black and brown children are because they’re so hypersexual and need to be controlled? It’s a direct link to the history of forced sterilization,” Adams said.

In 1992, a similar program resulted in accusations of racism after girls attending predominately Black schools in Baltimore were targeted with the Norplant contraceptive, then in its experimental phase. It was developed by the Population Council, a eugenics organization which later brought the abortion pill to the U.S.

In 2015, similar programs were led by Dr. Leana Wen, the Baltimore City Health Commissioner who later became Planned Parenthood’s national president.

Employees also accused PPGNY’s CEO of pushing a “for-profit” model and “[work] shifts that disproportionately burdened people of color, both staff and patients.” They claimed people of color were given long work hours and insufficient wages.

Black Lives Don't Matter at Planned Parenthood

PPGNY employees are not the first to call out Planned Parenthood’s treatment of Black employees. In the late 1990’s, former employee LaMarilyn Fadeyi filed a lawsuit which alleged that a Lubbock Planned Parenthood “engaged in various acts of racial discrimination against her during the course of her employment, ranging from discriminatory scheduling and distribution of office resources to the executive director’s giving her and another black employee an application for membership in the Ku Klux Klan.” Planned Parenthood eventually fired Fadeyi.

Dr. Laverne Tolbert served on the board of Planned Parenthood NYC from 1975 to 1980, and in 2015, told Newsmax TV, “There is no way to justify continuing to fund Planned Parenthood. Its roots are racist!”

In 2005, former Planned Parenthood Los Angeles (PPLA) staffer Andrew Jones filed a lawsuit with similar allegations. A new release published by his attorneys alleged that PPLA regularly allowed overt racism and sexism to infect its facilities, did nothing when one of its employees was called the N-word, and consistently portrayed Black males as being irresponsible. Sworn affidavits from female PPLA staff alleged, “there was a sense that any employee who was not a white female was going to be carefully watched.” Additional “high level PPLA employees who were fired for whistle-blowing or complaining of racism.”

In 2016, Asia Blunt, a Black woman with a disability, filed a discrimination lawsuit claiming Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri fired her because of her race. Blunt claimed she “witnessed numerous instances of discriminatory and disparate treatment toward other African American employees, including in hiring, discipline, and termination.”

One PPGNY employee claimed CEO Laura McQuade “use[d] coded language that made it seem like we’re serving these poor black and brown people, and you need to stop being lazy.” Another clinician told Jezebel, “For me, this is really about treating people like they’re disposable, and using Black staff for our labor and then discarding us. It’s very much in the playbook of white supremacy.”

After speaking with employees, the corporation’s current systemic racism problem became so obvious that even the pro-abortion Jezebel blog had to admit it:

… [F]ixing the problems at PPGNY will require more than just the ouster of its CEO. As one Black PPGNY clinician who wishes to remain anonymous due to fear of retribution told Jezebel, she had wanted to work at Planned Parenthood since she was a teenager, where she felt she could “serve women who looked like me.” But, she said, “white supremacy is still so embedded into the function of the organization.”

“Planned Parenthood isn’t doing a good job of serving our patients or community or the staff. They just happened to be the big name,” an employee admitted.

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