Planned Parenthood President: ‘I Have Seen Too Many Preventable Deaths’

Planned Parenthood President Dr. Leana Wen says that her organization is essential because, as a doctor, she has “seen too many preventable deaths.”

In an op-ed at CNN, the new leader of the nation’s largest abortion provider lamented the lack of medical care for illegal aliens and criticized what she called “discriminatory policies” against women:

To illustrate her concerns about the possibility that Planned Parenthood’s taxpayer funding could be eliminated, Wen described the situation of a woman who died in her emergency room after attempting to abort her baby at home. She also talked about another woman who died after refusing to seek medical attention for a lump that was detected in her breast during a manual examination.

“I have seen more preventable deaths than I can count or recall,” she wrote.

“[N]o one should fear seeking treatment because of their citizenship status, gender identity, income, sexual orientation, race or religion,” she continued. “Over the past century, Planned Parenthood has done so much to bring reproductive health care to millions of people.”

Wen did not include among the “preventable deaths” the more than 320,000 abortions her organization performs each year and that Planned Parenthood opposes any restrictions on abortion – even up until the day of birth.

Instead, she complained about the “significant barriers to accessing abortion.”

“In the last seven years, over 400 laws have passed that directly restrict abortion care,” she wrote.

Wen blamed President Trump’s administration for its pro-life policies, claiming the president and his administration are conspiring to purposely keep people in a state of sickness:

Keeping people unhealthy is a tool of oppression. People who aren’t healthy can’t participate fully in the economy. They may face barriers to care for their families. They may not be able to complete their education. The Trump administration knows this, and they have enacted many policies to take care – and power – away from women, LGBTQ communities, communities of color, people with low income and immigrants.

Wen also condemned the Trump administration’s recent release of a final rule that protects religious and moral objectors to Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate. The Obama-era rule required most employers to provide free birth control, abortion-inducing drugs, and sterilization procedures to employees through health insurance plans.

Adopting Planned Parenthood’s rhetoric, that the Trump administration is engaged in an “attack on birth control,” Wen neglected to mention that birth control is readily accessible for a minimal cost, as low as $9 per month, for anyone who chooses to use it.

A 2017 study by the Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI), the research arm of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, found that Planned Parenthood depends primarily on its abortion-centered business model – and is not a significant provider of medical care in the United States, despite its self-promotion as an “irreplaceable” and “life-saving” healthcare provider, as Wen professed.

The report observed that Planned Parenthood provides less than 1.4 percent of the nation’s HIV tests and less than one percent of pap tests. Additionally, in the last five years, service-to-client ratios for breast exams and pap tests have declined by 37 percent.

“There is little or no demonstrable capability for definitive diagnosis or a range of treatments for any disease or condition at Planned Parenthood centers,” the CLI study’s authors wrote. “With the exception of abortion, Planned Parenthood does not provide any service that is not easily available from alternative providers.”

Planned Parenthood’s own annual report shows most of its real healthcare services have been in decline as the organization has made its priority to become a political lobbying powerhouse.

“After months of organizing, led largely by women and in particular women of color, the American people elected a record number of women and a wave of health care champions to the US Congress,” Wen boasted in her column about the midterm elections.

Meanwhile, the number of prenatal services during 2016-2017 dropped to 7,762 – a 17 percent decline from the 9,419 performed during 2015-2016. In 2014-2015, Planned Parenthood claimed 17,419 prenatal services.

The organization, however, boosted its profits in 2016-2017 by $21 million – 27 percent – from the previous year as Planned Parenthood also took in nearly $544 million in taxpayer funding.

The “innovations” in health care Planned Parenthood touts include a “gender neutral” app that helps individuals keep track of their menstrual periods and birth control, and the fact that its affiliates in 17 states now offer hormone treatments for individuals who are uncomfortable with their biological sex and claim to be transgender.

“Planned Parenthood promotes itself as an indispensable health care provider and community asset, while downplaying its role as the nation’s largest abortion vendor,” the CLI authors observed. “This fiction is essential to justifying the half billion dollars in annual taxpayer funding they receive, but their own data paint an entirely different picture.”