Planned Parenthood has appointed Baltimore Health Commissioner Leana Wen as its next president.
Wen, who will be the first physician to helm the organization in five decades, will replace Cecile Richards, who stepped down earlier this year. She will join Planned Parenthood at a time in which it has been a major target of the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress, who have called for the organization to be cut off from federal funding.
“As a doctor, I will ensure we continue to provide high-quality healthcare, including the full range of reproductive care, and will fight with everything I have to protect the access of millions of patients who rely on Planned Parenthood,” Wen said in a statement Wednesday.
Her first day as president will begin Nov. 12.
Last month, Wen helped lead a lawsuit against the Trump administration alleging that it was intentionally and unlawfully “sabotaging” Obamacare, causing disruptions for Baltimore residents.
[Related: New census data undermines Democratic attack of Trump ‘sabotage’ of Obamacare]
Wen has been a leading advocate for expanding treatment to people with opioid addiction in Baltimore, where she was health commissioner since 2015. She has worked to distribute the drug naloxone among residents of the city, which helps reverse the effects of a overdose from opioids such as heroin or fentanyl, and keeps people from dying.
Wen also has been a critic of the Trump administration’s changes to family planning programs, which have aimed to divert federal funds from centers that also provide abortions, such as Planned Parenthood.
Baltimore also sued the Trump administration for ending grants that went toward programs aimed at preventing teen pregnancy. In response a judge ordered the $5 million in grants to be restored.
“A core principle in public health is to go where the need is,” Wen said in a letter to Baltimore residents. “The single biggest public health catastrophe of our time is the threat to women’s health and the health of our most vulnerable communities.”
Planned Parenthood has more than 600 facilities across the country, and it is the largest provider of abortions in the U.S. Its services also include birth control, cancer screening, testing for sexually transmitted infections, and sex education.
The anti-abortion group Students for Life bashed the appointment in a statement.
“It’s a shame that the Hippocratic Oath, to heal and to do no harm to any patient, is not held in the highest regard by the physicians at Planned Parenthood,” said Kristan Hawkins, the organization’s president. “Putting a doctor in in the presidency of Planned Parenthood won’t change the fact that the overall mission of that organization is ensuring that many lives are ended at a huge profit to the nation’s number one abortion vendor. Abortion is not healthcare, and women deserve better than what Planned Parenthood wants to sell them.”
Naomi Aberly, who chairs the board of directors at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said that Wen was selected “after an extensive search.”
“Not only will she help Planned Parenthood continue to provide high-quality care to women, men, and young people across the country, she will be a powerful voice in our fight to ensure women have the ability to make their own health care decisions — no matter what,” Aberly said.
Wen was born in Shanghai, China, and immigrated to the U.S. with her family as a child. She and her parents were granted political asylum and became U.S. citizens in 2003.
Meet our new president, @DrLeanaWen. pic.twitter.com/kNTnYKzww7
— Planned Parenthood (@PPFA) September 12, 2018
“We came to the U.S. with $40 to our name,” Wen said in a Planned Parenthood video announcing her new role. “We depended on Medicaid, and Food Stamps, and also on Planned Parenthood for healthcare”
Wen, who frequently takes interviews with reporters, has been recognized among Modern Healthcare’s 50 Most Influential Physician Executives and Leaders and Top 25 Minority Executives in Healthcare.
