A recent lawsuit reveals the lengths Planned Parenthood will go to protect its abortion business — even if it means sending women to the hospital.
A former Planned Parenthood Arizona employee was awarded $3 million last month after a jury found she was wrongfully terminated when she alerted her supervisors to ongoing, unsafe medical practices.
Protecting it’s abortion business
By Denise Burke
For years, Planned Parenthood paraded the misleading claim that abortion made up only 3% of its services. And while the abortion giant has flown that flag a little lower since that statistic was thoroughly discredited, perhaps what Planned Parenthood meant to say all along was that abortion safety plays a minuscule role in its operation.
That’s what Mayra Rodriguez found when, after more than 15 years working for Planned Parenthood clinics across the state, she uncovered a disturbing trend of shoddy abortion patient care that was putting women’s lives at risk. While what she found shocked her, it will come as no surprise to those who are well-acquainted with the duplicity behind Planned Parenthood’s carefully crafted public façade.
What Mayra uncovered wasn’t just enough to get her fired from Planned Parenthood. It was enough to spur a jury to award her $3 million in a recently decided wrongful termination lawsuit in Maricopa County, Arizona.
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It’s also enough to convince anyone with an open mind that Planned Parenthood prioritizes abortion above all else — even if that means voluntarily cutting itself off from Title X funding and charging poor women more money to make up the new shortfall in government funding.
Planned Parenthood’s commitment to abortion also overrides even the most basic standards of care for the women who enter its doors.
Lawsuit exposes disturbing practices
Named “employee of the year” in 2016, Mayra began noting serious health and safety violations at Planned Parenthood the following year. As her lawsuit describes, Mayra was summarily fired after raising multiple concerns.
Within days, her bosses had destroyed key documents that captured a series of dangerous and very likely illegal actions from the Planned Parenthood abortionists she oversaw as a clinic administrator.
Trump and Title X (Photo: Gary McCoy/Shiloh (Illinois)/PoliticalCartoons.com)
As she dug deeper into a troubling uptick of patients Planned Parenthood was sending to the hospital with “substantial post-abortion surgery complications,” Mayra traced the trend to one Planned Parenthood abortionist in particular.
On one occasion, a medical assistant confirmed that this practitioner carried out an “incomplete abortion,” where one or more body parts from the aborted baby remained in the mother’s womb. Incomplete abortions can lead to serious infection, sepsis and even septic shock.
Whistleblower’s story is not unique
That was no isolated incident. Mayra soon found out that, before the abortion was even performed, the same abortionist — who still works at Planned Parenthood — had his medical assistants prematurely complete medical forms affirming that they had ensured that all the body parts from the not-yet-aborted baby had been removed from the womb.
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But that isn’t all Mayra saw before she was kicked to the curb. In September 2017, Mayra learned that, in violation of state law, a Planned Parenthood clinic she oversaw failed to report carrying out an abortion on an underage teen who had an adult sexual partner. Mayra reported this to a supervisor and, one month later, she was dismissed.
Activists participate in the “March for Life,” in Washington, D.C., in January 2019. (Photo: SAUL LOEB, AFP/Getty Images)
Mayra Rodriguez is not the first Planned Parenthood employee to speak out on the organization’s startling disregard for the health, safety and well-being of its patients — including allegedly minors. Abby Johnson is a former Planned Parenthood clinic director with a story similar to Rodriguez’s, and it is every bit as grim as Mayra’s.
The lesson is simple. Planned Parenthood will protect its abortion business at all costs. Even if that means it sends some women to the hospital — or worse.
Denise Burke is senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom and its Center for Life. Follow the organization on Twitter @AllianceDefends. This column originally appeared in The Arizona Republic.
What others are saying
Bryan Howard, Planned Parenthood Arizona statement: “For 85 years — since 1934 — Planned Parenthood Arizona has provided health care and health information to hundreds of thousands of Arizonans according to stringent quality and safety standards. Our patients’ health and safety is our highest priority. … We support the role of our court system in ensuring workplaces are safe, fair, inclusive and comply with the law. We believe the outcome in this instance was not supported by the facts. While we disagree with the verdict and the damages award, we will not allow this event to distract from Planned Parenthood’s 100% focus on protecting access to health care for those Arizonans who need it most. We will consider next steps with that priority in mind.”
Mayra Rodriguez, statement: “I hope my case is a lesson to other workers that shows them that the truth will prevail. I also hope my case is a lesson to employers who abuse their power: Sometimes the underdog wins, and justice will be done. … Planned Parenthood publicly states they want to help and stand up for immigrants, that they care about these women, but it’s not true. They shamed me for my immigration status. But here we are, the jury heard the truth.”
Leana S. Wen, The New York Times: “In my farewell message to (Planned Parenthood) colleagues, I cited philosophical differences over the best way to protect reproductive health. While the traditional approach has been through prioritizing advocating for abortion rights, I have long believed that the most effective way to advance reproductive health is to be clear that it is not a political issue but a health care one. … There was immediate criticism that I did not prioritize abortion enough. While I am passionately committed to protecting abortion access, I do not view it as a stand-alone issue. … In the end, I was asked to leave for the same reason I was hired: I was changing the direction of Planned Parenthood.”
What our readers are saying
She made what appear to be valid complaints about procedures and personnel, and this ended up with (Planned Parenthood) using its system to get rid of her. That speaks to the arrogance of its leadership. … Good for Ms. Rodriguez. She fought a lonely battle.
— Jack Lavelle
Let this nation know the Trump administration is effectively backing abstinence. How funny is that coming from him. Should we follow his lead on how he does it?
— Jacqueline Blaszka Campbell
Good. I hope that this will be the beginning of the end for Planned Parenthood.
— Jason Martin
I can see why the 1 percenters and the poorly educated vote Republican, but why would women vote for them?
— Wayne Leslie
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