Two months ago Alexis McGill Johnson took over as the interim President of Planned Parenthood after Leana Wen was abruptly fired from her position as President and CEO for not pushing abortion as heavily as the board of directors desired.
Days after her termination, Wen released a statement on Twitter.
Shortly thereafter, she penned a piece for the New York Times providing more details about her severance from Planned Parenthood. In the article, Wen stated her belief that abortion is about healthcare and not about politics, while simultaneously acknowledging that many of her colleagues felt otherwise. Throughout the article, Wen essentially states that she was fired from Planned Parenthood for not supporting Planned Parenthood’s radical abortion, politicized agenda.
In response, Alexis McGill Johnson wrote a puff piece claiming that Planned Parenthood is not a political organization, but that the organization has been politicized.
Johnson wrote:
“… As I begin my tenure as acting head of Planned Parenthood, some are dismissing or mischaracterizing the organization’s mission as “political,” offering a false choice between advocating for women’s health and offering health care. The sexual and reproductive health care our organization provides is not “political”; it has been politicized — and not by us.”
Abortion, a legal medical procedure that 1 in 4 women will have in her lifetime, has been demonized and politicized, putting at risk sexual and reproductive health care for millions of people. We will fight anyone who attempts to politicize that care.
From reading Johnson’s puff piece you would assume that Planned Parenthood is somehow only minimally, unwillingly involved in politics. However, just this summer in June Planned Parenthood hosted a “We Decide” political event in South Carolina. The event was attended by every major, hopeful 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. Live Action News notes, ” Former president Cecile Richards, who had deep connections to the Democratic Party, delivered an address to the Democratic National Convention both in 2016, and years earlier in 2012. Richards herself stated in 2008 that her goal was to make Planned Parenthood into “the largest kick-butt political organization.” In the 2016 Democratic primary election, Planned Parenthood made the highly unusual move of endorsing a specific candidate: Hillary Clinton. According to a Live Action special report, Planned Parenthood spent $30 million during the 2018 Congressional elections to help pro-abortion politicians get elected.”
In her article, Johnson continues to pretend that Planned Parenthood is being held hostage against its will and being forced to resort to arming itself politically to defend abortion. She writes:
When we are accused of being political, we are standing up for patients. We refuse to cower to politicians who would prefer to see Planned Parenthood destroyed. We are fulfilling our mission to deliver vital reproductive health care, sex education and information to millions of people.
The patients of Planned Parenthood don’t have the luxury of pretending that politics can be ignored without experiencing a decline in the access and quality of sexual and reproductive health care. Nor do we.
Lila Rose, President of Live Action told the Daily Caller News Foundation that it is “laughable” to hear the nation’s largest abortion provider claim it is not political in nature “when Planned Parenthood fired its last CEO for not being political enough.”
“It is clear that Planned Parenthood will continue its deadly abortion business and its ruthless, pro-abortion political advocacy,” Rose continued.
Mallory Quigley, Susan B. Anthony List’s vice president of communications, called Planned Parenthood a “profit-driven, abortion-centered business with a distinct focus on politics,” pointing to the organization’s annual reports.
“As America’s largest abortion chain, they stand the most to lose when Americans, acting through their elected legislators, pass laws to limit abortion and protect life,” Quigley said.
