Planned Parenthood Faces New Controversy on Abortion
Seven former employees of Planned Parenthood have written a letter that has declared their support for Congress in its pending investigation, and maintained that the family planning clinic has mixed state funding to carry out abortions.
In the letter, Abby Johnson and six other former employees stated, “One or more of us have personally witnessed and can testify to the validity of specific concerns raised by subcommittee chairman Cliff Stearns.”
They also write that, “Abortion is indeed deployed as a means of family planning according to the mission of the organization.”
This story comes to light, after a Texas Planned Parenthood sent out controversial invitations welcoming “Democratic Women…and the men who love them” to a Christmas party being held at the clinic Dec. 8.
Much controversy has surrounded the organization after an amendment was passed this past February in the U.S. House to defund Planned Parenthood, although it was later defeated in Senate.
Christine Quinn, a speaker of the New York City Council and former chairwoman of the Women’s Health Committee wrote to the New York Times and said she had “worked closely with Planned Parenthood of New York City, crafting legislation to better protect and support women’s health and safety in New York” and considered Planned Parenthood “a major asset to the women, men and teenagers of New York City.”
The letter specifically refers to Planned Parenthood’s failure to: separate funding for abortion, inform parents of patients who were minors, provide “relevant” information, and detect clients that were coerced into the clinic.
Monty Patterson made similar claims after he said that Planned Parenthood provided information to his 18-year-old daughter who later died, according to the Huffington Post, of a “severe infection brought on by an incomplete abortion.”
Planned Parenthood could not be contacted but maintains on its site that it “believes in the fundamental right of each individual, throughout the world, to manage his or her fertility.”