CV NEWS FEED // The New York Times this weekend published a report detailing a multi-faceted crisis confronted by Planned Parenthood state affiliates, which appear to be grappling with tight resources, inadequate staff training, high employee turnover rates, and complaints of dismal clinic conditions at various locations.
On Feb. 15, the Times published Katie Benner’s article titled “Botched Care and Tired Staff: Planned Parenthood in Crisis.” Brenner reports that the Times reviewed legal filings, clinic documents, and interviews with over 50 Planned Parenthood current and former employees.
According to Brenner, the employee turnover rate at Planned Parenthoods in many places across the United States is around 50%. More than 12 clinic employees said, according to Brenner, that they were insufficiently trained on procedures such as blood draws.
Planned Parenthood state affiliates have individual management structures and budgeting, Brenner explained. Bylaws stipulate that the organization’s national wing, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, must direct the majority of its funds to political and legal efforts, and most of the $498 million in donations that the Federation received the year after Roe v. Wade was overturned went towards these efforts, according to Brenner.
Brenner later reported that “Over the last five years, the national office has distributed more than $899 million to affiliates to help them deliver care, but none of it went directly to medical services.”
Even in states where abortion is more supported, Planned Parenthood affiliates are reportedly experiencing financial strain. Planned Parenthood of Greater New York, Northern California, and Northern New England are all struggling with budget or funding-related issues, according to Benner.
Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood is facing a malpractice lawsuit filed by Nakara Alston, who, several weeks after getting an abortion at a New York-based clinic, was still suffering tremendously from the botched procedure.
The Times reviewed “scores of allegations” along with this botched abortion complaint that claim that Planned Parenthood provided “poor care.” In 2022, a Planned Parenthood clinician in Nebraska did not realize that a woman she was giving an IUD to was four months along in a pregnancy, according to Brenner. The woman gave birth to a stillborn baby several hours later in an emergency room.
Planned Parenthood executives declined to comment on patient complaints, citing privacy, according to Brenner, and many clinic managers declined to comment on specific facility conditions that employees claimed existed.
According to the Times, Planned Parenthood Action Fund Chair Joe Solmonese commented, “There are always anecdotal things that you can get from disgruntled staff people, a botched IUD.”
Employees of Planned Parenthood have “said there has been constant pressure to more than double the number of patients seen from the present 2.1 million, to help bring in more revenues,” Brenner wrote.
From 2022 to 2023, Planned Parenthood killed at least 392,715 unborn children through abortion, according to its annual report.
According to Brenner, some employees are reluctant to share about concerns within facilities because they “could empower the anti-abortion movement.”