While pro-life advocates have been successfully passing bills limiting abortion in various states across the country, Planned Parenthood on Tuesday removed the president of the organization, Dr. Leana Wen, who was named president only 10 months ago.
The New York Times reported, “The move came after hours of negotiations Tuesday between the board of directors and the president, Leana Wen, according to two people familiar with the decision … people familiar with the move said there had been internal strife over her management, and that the group felt it needed a more aggressive political leader to fight the efforts to roll back access to abortions.”
The new acting president was unanimously chosen by Planned Parenthood’s board on Tuesday: Alexis McGill Johnson, the co-founder of the Perception Institute, who will also serve as chief executive of both Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund. McGill Johnson released a statement that read, “I am proud to step in to serve as acting president and facilitate a smooth leadership transition in this critical moment for Planned Parenthood and the patients and communities we serve. I thank Dr. Wen for her service and her commitment to patients.”
Wen stated in an interview with The New York Times in May, “There are thousands of people who wake up every day thinking that their job is to take away everything that we stand for, to take away bodily autonomy, to take away the right to health care for millions of people who depend on us.
In a video from September 2018, leaving unborn children out of the equation, Wen made the astonishing claim that the women she aided in getting abortions were “our most vulnerable individuals.” The same month, she asserted, “There are no federal taxpayer dollars that go towards abortion,” a claim which was debunked by The Daily Wire’s Frank Camp:
Understanding the fungibility of money within an organization is paramount if one wants to understand why many Republicans want to pull federal dollars from Planned Parenthood. Merriam-Webster defines “fungibility” as “being something (such as money or a commodity) of such a nature that one part or quantity may be replaced by another equal part or quantity in paying a debt or settling an account.” …
That’s fungibility; money floats around. Even if federal law like the Hyde Amendment prohibits taxpayer dollars from directly funding abortions, federal money can be used elsewhere within the Planned Parenthood organization so that other funds can be reallocated for abortion services.
In March 2019, Wen boasted that she was President Trump’s “nightmare,” tweeting, “Last night, I was on @TheDailyShow to talk about Planned Parenthood’s incredible life-saving work. @Trevornoah called me @realDonaldTrump‘s ‘nightmare’ — a badge of honor I proudly wear as we fight for our patients, our rights & our future!”
In May 2019, The Washington Post gave Wen four Pinocchios after her repeated false claim that “thousands” of women died from illegal abortions before the Roe v. Wade decision. Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler wrote, “These numbers were debunked in 1969 — 50 years ago — by a statistician celebrated by Planned Parenthood. There’s no reason to use them today.”