Since Planned Parenthood boss Cecile Richards announced she was stepping down earlier this year, the pro-life movement has awaited the news of the abortion Goliath’s new leader. I looked forward to the challenge of addressing what I thought would be a new set of talking points about Planned Parenthood’s darling issue of abortion from the new leader.
And then the announcement finally came: Leana Wen, a former ER doctor and current health commissioner of Baltimore, was selected to take Cecile Richards’ place. Wen made her debut by regurgitating virtually every soundbite Richards codified during her worn-out tenure. As it turns out, abortion activists actually do run out of ways to sell their product.
In typical Richards’ style before a fawning audience on “The View,” Wen deflected straightforward questions about Planned Parenthood’s organizational practices. Co-host Sunny Hostin, for example, confronted Wen about Planned Parenthood’s dishonest abortion statistic, which claims that abortion is “only 3 percent” of Planned Parenthood’s services. Hostin noted that this is a clear lack of transparency on Planned Parenthood’s part. Hostin pointed out: “The Washington Post […] has found it to be more like 12 percent, has given Planned Parenthood three Pinocchios for that. Why isn’t Planned Parenthood more transparent about its true position?”
Now, Wen has actually done extensive research on the benefits of transparency in the healthcare field. In 2014 she delivered a TED talk in which she presented research she conducted showing that a lack of transparency between doctors and patients is the source of much dissatisfaction for patients. In the talk, Wen asked, “What if doctors were to become totally transparent with their patients?” She shares enthusiastically that hundreds of doctors had signed a transparency pledge.
Yet on “The View,” Wen fled from her own advice, answering Hostin’s question in Planned Parenthood’s trademark dismissive and deceptive manner: “Well, I disagree with this. Planned Parenthood […] is transparent and makes clear what are the procedures that we performed and what are the services that we perform. Planned Parenthood is the largest provider of reproductive healthcare in this country. That includes abortions, but more than 90 percent of the services performed are preventative care services.” Wen refused to address the issue of Planned Parenthood’s documented failure to be transparent about its abortion-driven business model.
I think Planned Parenthood chose Wen for two reasons. First, because she is a physician by training, and even Wen admits that her identity as a physician bolsters Planned Parenthood’s public image. As the nation grows more averse to abortion – thanks to the unprecedented views and activism of the pro-life generation – Planned Parenthood grasps at new ways to present abortion as normal. In a promotional video to introduce Wen, she says, “Having a physician as the head of Planned Parenthood, it is a sign that what we are doing is mainstream medical care.” Abortion is not healthcare; it is a violation of Hippocratic principles of medicine. By putting a former ER doctor at its helm, Planned Parenthood hopes to bolster its public image as a healthcare provider when it is little other than a massive abortion business.
Second, Wen’s experience as a member of the “resistance” against President Trump will benefit Planned Parenthood. As health commissioner in Baltimore, Wen fought the pro-life Trump administration’s decision to defund teen pregnancy prevention programs that were proven ineffectiveand objectionable to parents. President Trump’s commitment to the pro-life generation and its values is one of the biggest threats facing Planned Parenthood today; they needed a leader who would be ready to do battle for the organization’s abortion agenda.
In short, Leana Wen is Cecile Richards in a white coat.
Kristan Hawkins (@KristanHawkins) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is president of Students for Life of America.
