Planned Parenthood President Named Among Time’s ‘100 Most Influential People’

Time magazine named Planned Parenthood President Dr. Leana Wen as one of its “100 most influential people” of 2019.

I'm honored to be included in the 2019 #TIME100 list. Thank you, @CynthiaNixon and @TIME! https://t.co/vuYeUCmK4Z

— Leana Wen, M.D. (@DrLeanaWen) April 17, 2019

In a glowing piece about Wen, actress and failed New York gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon said physician Wen is “just what the doctor ordered” as the person to lead Planned Parenthood.

The Sex and the City star wrote about Wen:

She’s working to expand the sexual- and reproductive-health services offered at Planned Parenthood health centers, including cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, affordable birth control, maternal health services, mental–health counseling and hormone therapy for trans people. All the while, she’s making it clear that the organization is not backing down from the fight to protect the right to safe, legal abortion.

With Planned Parenthood’s own annual reports showing an increase in abortions and a decline in many of its non-abortion services, Wen has been struggling to upgrade real healthcare services as she also insists that taking the life of an unborn baby is a fundamental right of women.

Reproductive health care is a part of the full spectrum of health care — and we won't stop until everyone has access. We're proud to have @DrLeanaWen leading the way: https://t.co/KjCPASnFIn #ThisIsHealthCare #TIME100

— Planned Parenthood (@PPFA) April 17, 2019

In January, Wen tweeted emphatically that abortion is Planned Parenthood’s “core mission” following a BuzzFeed article based on an interview with her that suggested her organization would be upgrading its non-abortion services:

First, our core mission is providing, protecting and expanding access to abortion and reproductive health care. We will never back down from that fight – it’s a fundamental human right and women’s lives are at stake.

— Leana Wen, M.D. (@DrLeanaWen) January 8, 2019

“First, our core mission is providing, protecting and expanding access to abortion and reproductive health care,” she said. “We will never back down from that fight – it’s a fundamental human right and women’s lives are at stake.”

An article Tuesday at USA Today confirmed Planned Parenthood is struggling with its image as polls indicate most Americans, including Democrats and those who label themselves “pro-choice,” are in favor of restricting abortions.

Wen, according to the report, is firmly committed to abortion.

“We cannot separate out one of our services. That’s not how medicine works,” she reportedly told Kaiser Health News.

Nixon, who wrote that she herself became an abortion-rights supporter in the wake of her mother’s abortion in the 1960s, said Wen is also using her own family experiences with illness to energize “a revolution in patients’ rights.”

“At a time when reproductive rights are under relentless attack, and our country questions whether health care is a human right, Leana Wen is the fierce visionary I want fighting on behalf of all of us,” wrote Nixon.