Head of Planned Parenthood forced out after eight months
The president of Planned Parenthood was forced out of her job Tuesday in a dispute over her management style and the direction of the nation’s largest women’s reproductive rights organization amid growing political and legal challenges to abortion.
Planned Parenthood’s board met in emergency session for hours Tuesday and approved Leana Wen’s immediate departure just eight months after she took over the post.
The move occurs at one of the most difficult moments in the group’s history. The organization faces growing financial peril from a Trump administration rule that took effect Monday barring federally funded family planning clinics from providing referrals for abortions. It is also under attack by antiabortion lawmakers at the state and federal level and is threatened by the prospect that the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion could be overturned by the Supreme Court’s new conservative majority.
The board did not address the reasons for Wen’s departure in a public statement. Board chair Aimee Cunningham did not respond to a request for an interview. A person aware of the board’s perspective, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the organization had worked with Wen for six months to correct problems with her management style that included serious conflicts and difficulty working with staff.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/head-of-planned-parenthood-forced-out-after-eight-months/2019/07/16/c726b078-a7d3-11e9-a3a6-ab670962db05_story.html?utm_term=.c5958acac7ba&wpisrc=al_news__alert-politics--alert-national&wpmk=1