{"id":200224,"date":"2019-04-16T10:54:56","date_gmt":"2019-04-16T15:54:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=200224"},"modified":"2019-04-14T21:19:12","modified_gmt":"2019-04-15T02:19:12","slug":"cecile-richards-pro-lifers-misogyny-planned-parenthood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/cecile-richards-pro-lifers-misogyny-planned-parenthood\/","title":{"rendered":"Cecile Richards accuses pro-lifers of misogyny, ignores it at Planned Parenthood"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Last year, Cecile Richards stepped down from her position as president and CEO of the country’s largest abortion corporation, Planned Parenthood<\/a>\u00a0— but\u00a0she has by no means retired; she still speaks out in defense of abortion, and recently published a book that is meant to serve as a guide for pro-abortion feminists. In a recent interview with Newsweek<\/a>, she, in typical fashion, accused pro-life lawmakers of using misogyny as an “organizing force.” But Richards ignores the misogyny she allowed to fester and grow under her leadership at Planned Parenthood.<\/p>\n

At the beginning of the interview, Richards argued that some issues for women are bipartisan, using a cringeworthy example. “Women aren\u2019t paid equally,” she said. “I don\u2019t care if you work at Walmart or Goldman Sachs\u2014women care about that. Workplaces treat pregnancy as a burden and nuisance.<\/strong> These issues are not Democratic or Republican.”<\/p>\n

It’s interesting that Richards would complain about pregnancy being treated as a burden and nuisance, when she headed an organization whose abortion business model depended<\/em> upon the fact that pregnancy is treated as a burden. In addition, her organization<\/em> was found to be one of those workplaces that treated pregnancy in this manner: a bombshell report<\/a>\u00a0from a New York Times investigative piece that Planned Parenthood “saw accommodating expecting mothers as expensive and inconvenient,” and refused to give them lunch breaks or rest periods. Pregnant workers were also penalized or retaliated against for taking medical leave. Pregnant applicants were denied jobs, and possible future pregnancy was a factor when considering an employee for promotion.<\/p>\n

All of this violates the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. And Richards clearly only cares about pregnant employees when they can be used as a talking point; when it came to her own corporation, they were discriminated against and treated abhorrently.<\/p>\n

VIDEO: Workers recount Planned Parenthood\u2019s \u2018dark\u2019 culture of pregnancy discrimination<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Richards then trotted out the old claim that defunding Planned Parenthood would rob women of health care, asking, “How can you advocate for child care and, on the other hand, take away millions of women\u2019s access to great exams and cancer screening?”<\/p>\n

At one point, Planned Parenthood did<\/em> provide more health care services. But under Richards’ leadership, that all changed, and abortion became the focus. Now, Planned Parenthood serves only a small percentage of women<\/a>, performing less than 2 percent of all cancer screenings, less than 2 percent of all breast exams, and less than 1 percent of pap exams. Legitimate health care services have massively decreased<\/a>, while abortion has increased<\/a>. 94 percent of their pregnancy-related services is abortion<\/a>; adoption referrals are so rare as to be practically non-existent, and prenatal care isn’t provided<\/a>, either.<\/p>\n