The first physician to helm Planned Parenthood in nearly 50 years was ousted last week because of philosophical differences about the direction of the organization.
Dr. Leana Wen has said she wanted de-politicize Planned Parenthood — the largest provider of reproductive health services, including abortion, in the nation — by expanding its focus to a broader array of health issues as a way to preserve the organization amid an onslaught from state legislators and Republicans in Washington.
With a newly conservative majority in the Supreme Court, several states have recently passed restrictive abortion laws, some going so far as to enact de-facto bans by criminalizing the procedure even in cases of rape or incest.
"I believe the best way to protect abortion care is to be clear that it is not a political issue but a health care one, and that we can expand support for reproductive rights by finding common ground with the large majority of Americans who understand reproductive health care as the fundamental health care that it is," Wen wrote in a statement.
Medical ethicist Art Caplan told Boston Public Radio Thursday the move is a "tactics fight," with one side arguing that Planned Parenthood is more than an abortion agency — only 3 percent of people who visit their clinics go there for abortion — and the other side arguing that the growing attacks on abortion requires Planned Parenthood to be its fiercest advocate.
"I don't know which tactic polls better. I'll say this, for Planned Parenthood to try to present itself as a health delivery [service] that includes abortion, I don't think that's going to fly," he said. "It is true that somebody's got to jump in there and protect the right to have an abortion, if you're on that side of the issue, it does need strong advocacy, it needs somebody who's going to sue and fight back, and that's what a lot of the Planned Parenthood people said: If not us, then who?"
Art Caplan is the Drs. William F and Virginia Connolly Mitty Chair, and director of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU Langone Medical Center. He’s also the co-host of the everyday ethics podcast.
