| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 16, 2019 |
CONTACT: Mallory Quigley [email protected] 202-223-8073 |
Wen Removed as President Trump’s Protect Life Rule Takes Effect, Stopping Title X Taxpayer Funding of Abortion Businesses
Washington, D.C. – Today Leana Wen was removed as president of Planned Parenthood. Alexis McGill Johnson, a former board member of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, was named acting president and CEO. In a statement, Wen cited “philosophical differences” between herself and the group’s board.
The national pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) responded:
“Planned Parenthood’s ejection of its new president after less than a year is unsurprising given the friction we’ve seen over those months. Abortion is not health care and dressing it up in a white coat has not fooled the American people, so they fall back on the mainstay of their political machine,” said SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “It is a sign that the abortion giant still overestimates its power in the new environment ushered in by the Trump administration – and that momentum is on the side of life. As our nation moves toward a legal consensus that is increasingly protective of unborn children at every stage, the abortion lobby insists that legislators have no right to intervene. The American people, through their elected representatives, are speaking clearly and deserve to be heard.”
Wen’s ouster follows an announcement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that it will immediately begin implementing President Trump’s Protect Life Rule, which stops taxpayer-funded facilities from referring for abortions or commingling finances with abortion businesses. Planned Parenthood confirmed Monday that it will refuse to comply with the rule.
SBA List is a network of more than 787,000 pro-life Americans nationwide, dedicated to ending abortion by electing national leaders and advocating for laws that save lives, with a special calling to promote pro-life women leaders.
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