Here’s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media & culture: 06/04/21

Former Planned Parenthood Clinic Director Abby Johnson notes the organization’s hypocrisy on Paid Family Leave. Now a fetal rights and family advocate, the founder of And Then There Were None – which assists abortion clinic workers in transitioning out of the industry – notes that her comparatively tiny organization which (unlike the much larger PP) receives no government money has always offered 12 weeks of Paid Family Leave for births and adoptions plus leave for miscarriages and stillbirths. In fact, ATTWN is leading the way for other nonprofits, organizations, and companies who advocate for women’s issues. In contrast, I’m told Planned Parenthood, the self-proclaimed bastion of “choice” for women, offers pregnant employees a miserly 4 weeks of paid maternity leave and 6 weeks of unpaid maternity leave.

Johnson supports the push by President Biden and the Democrats to push for making 12 weeks of Paid Family Leave the norm across the nation which, she says, should be viewed as a non-partisan issue that just happens to be pro-life, pro-family, pro-worker and pro-woman. She recently wrote a Western Journal op-ed in which she called out Planned Parenthood for failing to lead – and failing women – on the issue. In the article she suggests that “This isn’t surprising given that the organization makes money directly off of women who are facing a lack of paid leave from their jobs.”

JWK: Tell me about the Paid Family Leave policy of And Then There Were None as compared to that at Planning Parenthood.

Abby Johnson: We give 12 weeks fully-paid leave for our staff. That was one thing that was really important to me when I start And Then There Were None because I knew that was not something that the abortion industry did. Paid Family Leave is a conversation that we need to have, really, as a nation. It’s a conversation that employers need to have amongst themselves. The fact is is that 23% of all moms are going back to work within two weeks of giving birth. That’s shocking. I mean that should shock everyone. I wanted the employees in my organization to feel like they had plenty of time to be home with their babies.

JWK: How many employees to you have?

AJ: We have 25.

JWK: I think it’s fair to say that the media is generally in favor of Paid Family Leave but they don’t really hold Planned Parenthood’s feet to the fire on the issue – despite the fact that they actually receive federal funding. What are your general feelings on how the media covers the group and abortion in general?

AJ: It’s definitely very biased. A couple of years ago there was sort of a big exposé done on this particular topic – Paid Family Leave. I think it was the New York Times. It was some large publication that did a big article on this. They interviewed me. They interviewed many former workers who had had children while they worked at Planned Parenthood. (They) talked about how they were pressured to come back to work after having their baby and how terrible they were treated. One article was published about it and that was it. There were no subsequent articles. Planned Parenthood’s feet weren’t held to the fire. Here they are, supposedly this huge women’s rights organization and they treat women terribly. They just continue to get a pass over and over and over again. That’s what we see in the media. I mean it’s all over. You know, they’re trafficking human baby parts for money – and nothing. They get a pass. They commit Medicaid fraud. That gets exposed – and they get a pass. It’s almost like they’re Teflon coated.

JWK: So, going forward, what would you like to see happen regarding the issue of Paid Family Leave?