Earlier today, on Tuesday, July 16, 2019, Dr. Leana Wen was ousted from her role as the President of Planned Parenthood, a nonprofit organization operating in the United States that helps women with their various needs related to reproductive healthcare.
She was immediately replaced by Alexis McGill Johnson, who was also appointed to the role of Chief Executive Officer of Planned Parenthood.
Unnamed sources who are familiar with the inner workings of Planned Parenthood believe that Wen’s removal from her role as the head of the nonprofit organization has been in the works for many months due to her behavior as lead manager. However, other sources report that Dr. Leana Wen was removed as the President because she wanted Planned Parenthood to be less of a political force than it has been in recent years. Rather, Dr. Wen felt Planned Parenthood would be better off as more of a practical healthcare provider as opposed to a political influencer.
Dr. Wen was named to the role she once held in Nov. 2018, replacing who had spent the previous 12 years leading Planned Parenthood as its president, Cecile Richards, a physician with tons of experience in women’s reproductive health and dealing with programs that provide assistance to women seeking reproductive healthcare services.
Directors at Planned Parenthood do support providing help to women for female reproductive healthcare services, though they believe that fighting against current trends in states like Alabama, Georgia, and Missouri that have severely restricted the legal protections afforded to women seeking abortions and physicians who provide them is more important than simply providing women’s reproductive health help.
The aforementioned sources that are close to Planned Parenthood reported that she was ousted from her role solely for the problems she’s had as the manager of the organization. Planned Parenthood’s board of directors had even set up managerial training for her to go through, which Dr. Wen was subject to, though it didn’t do much for the direction of the organization.
Since Dr. Leana Wen’s removal from the role of President of Planned Parenthood was announced earlier today, some journalists, bloggers, and plenty of laypeople have slammed Planned Parenthood for being more concerned with the particular topic of abortion more than women’s reproductive healthcare and welfare in general.
Wen parted on favorable terms with the organization, taking to Twitter earlier today to express positive sentiments toward the country’s and Planned Parenthood’s efforts in favor of supporting women’s reproductive healthcare rights.
