In a 1,400-word letter, Dr. Leana Wen, the former president of Planned Parenthood, criticized the abortion business for its intimidation tactics and refusal to pay out her severance without an accompanying nondisclosure agreement (NDA). It’s the latest headache and public relations nightmare for the nation’s largest abortion business. 

The New York Times recently obtained a leaked letter that Wen wrote to the board of Planned Parenthood during the severance negotiations. In the letter, she said, “No amount of money can ever buy my integrity and my commitment to the patients I serve. … I have no desire to file claims against Planned Parenthood for defamation, retaliation, or discrimination.” 

It’s a bold statement with hints of possible future legal action. According to the letter, Wen’s contract stated that she should receive a severance package, including health coverage, in the event of her termination. Her contract didn’t say anything about signing a nondisclosure agreement, but now Planned Parenthood wants to force Wen to sign one before the severance is distributed. Wen doesn’t want to sign.

“It is deeply hypocritical,” Wen wrote. “(That Planned Parenthood) would attempt to enforce a gag order on its immediate past President/CEO while fighting the Trump administration’s gag rule on Title X providers.”

That was a rather surprising statement and highlights a startling hypocrisy in the actions of the abortion business. It also raises the question, what is Planned Parenthood trying to hide? The organization cited Wen’s management style as the reason for her departure, but the real reason is something entirely different. 

As a trained physician, Wen wanted to focus on increasing the medical side of the business. Her efforts resulted in her termination. She wrote in her letter that “there is a vocal minority,” including those on the board and at the national level, “who prefer a stridently political, abortion-first philosophy.”

Even from the outside, it is clear that this difference in philosophy is what led to Wen’s departure. Throughout her communications with the media and various campaigns while president, it is clear that Wen wanted to focus on medicine and health care, rather than abortion. She believed that if the abortion business could focus on those things, while still providing abortions, Planned Parenthood would be better insulated from political attacks.

That’s not a terrible idea. Based on a careful examination of the annual reports over the last couple of decades, it becomes painfully clear that pap smears, breast exams, prenatal exams and other preventative services have often taken a back seat to abortions and STD testing and services. Honestly, there’s not a lot of health care going on at Planned Parenthood anymore, which is a shame for the patients it claims to serve.

If Wen had been given the time to change the direction of Planned Parenthood, it is possible that the abortion business could’ve looked like a completely different organization at the end of her tenure. A focus on simply providing preventable care and not just abortion could’ve resulted in better services and more qualified personnel. No more trying to find physicians and medical professionals that are willing to dirty their hands with abortion, but instead there would be skilled practitioners that could have a great impact on communities across the country. Regardless of the philosophical or political differences between pro-abortion and pro-life supporters, we all want women to have access to the preventative (i.e. not abortion) health care services that they need. But the board of Planned Parenthood didn’t want to go in that direction.

According to reports, it sounds like Wen and Planned Parenthood came to an agreement of sorts yesterday. Hopefully, Wen didn’t sign an NDA and can continue to share her inside knowledge of Planned Parenthood. The public has a right to know what is going on behind the scenes at the abortion business, and if the practices of Planned Parenthood are damaging to patient care then it is important that Wen be able to share that with the public.

After all, if the patient care is so good at Planned Parenthood, what do the executives have to worry about?

 

Photo from TED Talk on Youtube