By Cheryl Sullenger
New York, NY – Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s CEO Leana Wen was fired unexpectedly yesterday and immediately replaced by an interim CEO, board member Alexis McGill Johnson.
Wen announced her firing with tweets explaining that while she was in the midst of “good faith negotiations” to end her brief, ten-month tenure at the head of Planned Parenthood, the Board of Directors voted to terminate her employment during a “secret meeting.”
I just learned that the @PPFA Board ended my employment at a secret meeting. We were engaged in good faith negotiations about my departure based on philosophical differences over the direction and future of Planned Parenthood. My statement to come shortly.
— Leana Wen, M.D. (@DrLeanaWen) July 16, 2019
Wen later elaborated on her differences with Planned Parenthood in a three-page letter posted on Twitter. Her vision for Planned Parenthood included turning the abortion business into primary health care centers that would provide needed services such as addiction recovery programs.
Planned Parenthood instead wanted to focus on political abortion advocacy.
“It’s probably no coincidence that Wen was fired the day after the Trump Administration’s Protect Life Rule went into effect after the Ninth Circuit delivered Planned Parenthood a huge defeat,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “It is obvious that Planned Parenthood’s trope about abortion being only three percent of their so-called healthcare services was a smokescreen, The Board just proved that Planned Parenthood is about abortion. Period.”
The new interim CEO, Alexis McGill Johnson, is a long-time PPFA Noard member with a decidedly leftist pedigree who appears to be more politically connected than Wen.
As a PP board member for nearly a decade, @AlexisMcGill has worked to expand @PPFA’s philanthropic reach, develop a strategic plan to increase access to our health centers, and identify new technologies to meet our patients’ needs. Get to know Alexis: https://t.co/3ciUFJ7AAs
— Planned Parenthood (@PPFA) July 16, 2019
Johnson’s political campaign contribution history found on Opensecrets.org shows support for the far left of the Democratic party. She has given money to politicians who are hard-core Planned Parenthood supporters who share her radical politics, such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Kamala Harris.
“We can expect to see a more aggressive political and legal agenda from Planned Parenthood under Johnson,” said Newman, who is currently locked in a legal battle with Planned Parenthood in Federal Court over undercover videos produced by the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) that are evidence that Planned Parenthood was engaged in the illegal sale of aborted baby remains for profit. Newman served as a CMP board member during its investigation.
“We are getting a glimpse of the disarray and division within Planned Parenthood’s ranks. What we are seeing right now is a desperate attempt to regain political power it lost when President Trump took office in 2017,” said Newman. “They are willing to throw anyone and everyone under the bus to get that power back.”
