{"id":227242,"date":"2020-07-14T12:18:10","date_gmt":"2020-07-14T17:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=227242"},"modified":"2020-07-14T12:25:37","modified_gmt":"2020-07-14T17:25:37","slug":"employee-planned-parenthood-concerned-money-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/employee-planned-parenthood-concerned-money-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Planned Parenthood employee says corporation ‘more concerned’ with power and money than anything else"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A recent piece in\u00a0The Guardian<\/a>\u00a0accuses Planned Parenthood of being more concerned with power and profit than anything else. Surprisingly, the piece is not written by a pro-lifer, but by a former employee of the United States’ top abortion business.<\/p>\n

Pulling back the curtain on her former employer of five years<\/a>, Planned Parenthood in the Texas Capital Region, author Jessa Crispin accuses Planned Parenthood\u00a0of being “more concerned with hobnobbing with the powerful” than caring for its clients. Her piece, titled, “The pro-choice movement is in tatters. Planned Parenthood is part of the problem,” paints Planned Parenthood as a business which runs roughshod over its competitors in the industry. And Crispin has a point; every time an independent abortion facility closes<\/a>, Planned Parenthood snatches up a larger portion of the abortion market share. It currently commits<\/a> 40% of the nation’s abortions.<\/p>\n

Crispin seems to have caught on to the fact that the abortion industry might just be driven more by profit than benevolence. She believes Planned Parenthood and its industry cohorts overcharge clients for abortion, especially the abortion pill:<\/p>\n

Planned Parenthood and other clinics charge $400\u2013$600 (the price varies from region to region and clinic to clinic) for the combination of drugs that induce a medication abortion, despite the fact that the medication\u00a0only costs\u00a0<\/a>about $90<\/a>\u00a0for the clinics. That\u2019s the same amount charged for the surgical procedure \u2013 and that\u2019s if you want to experience potential white-knuckling pain during an already potentially emotionally traumatic procedure; if you want pain relief it will cost you much more.<\/em><\/p>\n

Abortion is a moneymaker for Planned Parenthood. In 2017<\/a>,\u00a0according to a Live Action News\u00a0analysis<\/a>, the corporation’s estimated revenue from the abortion pill was $62 million, while its overall estimated abortion revenue reached nearly $200 million. That $200 million equated to more than half (52%) of Planned Parenthood’s non-government health services revenue.<\/p>\n

In 2018, Planned Parenthood\u00a0ended<\/a> the lives of 345,672 preborn children in abortion. Because the latest statistics show that 40%<\/a> of all abortions are now done by pill, Live Action News estimates that based on this statistic and on the typical charge for the abortion pill (138,269 abortions x $600), Planned Parenthood potentially amassed nearly\u00a0$83 million from abortion pill sales in 2018.\u00a0Since\u00a02000<\/a>, the corporation has committed over 5.6 million abortions while\u00a0accruing<\/a>\u00a0over $1.5 billion in excess revenue.<\/p>\n

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Planned Parenthood 2018 abortion numbers, excess revenue and taxpayer dollars<\/p><\/div>\n

READ:\u00a0As employees speak out, Planned Parenthood\u2019s mask begins to crack<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

But while Planned Parenthood raked in millions in excess revenue<\/a>,\u00a0staffers<\/a> at various affiliates\u00a0claim<\/a> the corporation failed to pay them a decent wage and unnecessarily\u00a0furloughed<\/a> employees.<\/p>\n

The cracks are beginning to show<\/a>. Multiple<\/a> Planned Parenthood employees<\/a> have jumped ship due to long-held dissatisfaction with the corporation. Those who remain have chosen to\u00a0unionize<\/a>,\u00a0and\u00a0some<\/a>\u00a0have\u00a0exposed<\/a>\u00a0the corporation\u2019s abuses,\u00a0low wages,<\/a>\u00a0and affiliates’ failure to\u00a0offer<\/a>\u00a0paid medical leave.\u00a0Employees have also filed\u00a0whistleblower lawsuits<\/a>\u00a0and publicly revealed how the corporation\u00a0discriminates<\/a>\u00a0against pregnant employees.<\/a><\/p>\n

Crispin says the corporation in general is more concerned with its own image than with “providing care”:<\/p>\n

Planned Parenthood seems more concerned with hobnobbing with the powerful, paying the CEOs of its regional chapters\u00a0salaries in the mid-six<\/a>\u00a0figures<\/a>, making symbolic gestures and coming up with a catchy slogan to sell on T-shirts than with providing care for the people who need their services.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

In her op-ed, Crispin describes her former employer not as a health care organization but as a “political leader” which “spends its time talking about ‘protecting Roe’.\u201d This sort of allegation is not new. Former president Cecile Richards said it was her goal to make the corporation into the largest ever \u201ckick butt political organization<\/a>\u201d – and as a result, the corporation has made many\u00a0political alliances<\/a>\u00a0that benefit its bottom line. Year<\/a>\u00a0after year<\/a>, Planned Parenthood’s clients and legitimate health care services decrease while abortions and government funding increase.<\/p>\n