Planned Parenthood executives and supporters were on Capitol Hill this week lobbying lawmakers to protect the millions of dollars the nation’s largest abortion provider gets from taxpayers every year and to announce nationwide “speak-outs” during the upcoming congressional recesses.
Several Democratic House members, including Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), sponsored a Planned Parenthood press conference. Lee praised the organization, which, according to its 2016-2017 annual report, ended the lives of 321,384 unborn children in that reporting year.
“Your work really saves lives,” Lee said on Wednesday outside of the Capitol.
Lee praised the recently passed Omnibus spending bill, which included funding for Planned Parenthood despite the Republican majority in both congressional chambers and GOP members’ vows to defund the abortion giant.
Dawn Laguens, the executive vice president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, spoke at the press conference.
“Planned Parenthood is the solution, not the problem,” said Laguens, who has become the public face of the organization since Cecile Richards stepped down:
Laguens, who is raising triplet daughters with her partner, slammed what she called the Trump-Pence administration’s “attack on our reproductive rights.”
Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI) also spoke at the press conference, calling Republicans “extreme politicians” and “dangerous for women.”
American Life League’s Jim Sedlak recently wrote about Laguens and her lucrative work at Planned Parenthood.
Sedlak’s article states in part:
Laguens first appeared as a highly paid employee on the PPFA Federal Form 990 for 2012-2013. On that form she was listed as the chief experience officer with a total income of $399,105. The 2015-2016 Form 990 still lists her as the chief experience officer, but with a total income of $635,126. That’s a 59 percent increase in just three years.
In addition to her work with Planned Parenthood, Laguens is a member of the board of directors of LPAC, which describes itself as “the first lesbian Political Action Committee, with the mission of advancing women’s and LGBTQ equality by working to influence the current political and social landscape and to give lesbians a real and meaningful seat at the political table.”
Laguens’ LPAC biography gives her credit for “leading the successful campaign to defeat the Pence amendment, a congressional effort to eliminate Planned Parenthood’s access to federal funding. Since then she has shaped (Planned Parenthood’s) message and strategy through the Komen Foundation’s defunding of Planned Parenthood affiliates, defending insurance coverage for birth control, and helping to reelect President Barack Obama.”
Planned Parenthood has not announced who will replace Richards as the head of the organization, but Laguens has recently been in the spotlight, and Richards has praised her on social media:
LifeNews.com reported last month that one contender could be Wendy Davis, former Texas state legislator and failed gubernatorial candidate, who gained national attention for filibustering a bill to ban late-term abortions in the state.
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