Leana Wen, president of Planned Parenthood, believes giving aborted babies a proper burial or cremation will “stigmatize abortion care.”
National Public Radio (NPR) interviewed Wen on Tuesday on All Things Considered and asked her about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold an Indiana law that mandates babies killed from abortion be buried or cremated.
“What do you see as the implications of this ruling?” host Ari Shapiro asked.
“Well, we’re very concerned about this Supreme Court ruling because, once again, it stigmatizes abortion care,” Wen, who is a physician, said. “And I’m also deeply concerned about the fact that there are 15 cases that are one step away from the Supreme Court.”
“And if any of them are taken up, then one in three women of reproductive age in this country would be living in states where abortion is banned, criminalized, and outlawed,” Wen said.
Shapiro began the interview asking Wen about a Missouri law.
“Planned Parenthood said today that later this week the Missouri Health Department will force the Planned Parenthood health center in St. Louis to stop performing abortions unless a court intervenes,” Shapiro said. “Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit today to prevent the center from closing.”
“Right now that St. Louis center is the only clinic in Missouri where women can receive abortions,” Shapiro said.
“Well, I want to first say that this is a public health crisis — that if the court does not grant us a restraining order, Missouri will go dark,” Wen said. “And more than 1.1 million women of reproductive age will be living in a state where they cannot access essential health care — the first time since 1974 that safe, legal abortion is inaccessible to people in an entire state.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who is running for president and who received more than $3,000 from Planned Parenthood during the 2018 election cycle, got the memo and shared it on Twitter.
“This is a public health crisis: The last remaining clinic in Missouri that provides safe, legal abortion could be shut down within hours,” Sanders tweeted. “We must fight the extremists who, in state after state, are waging a war against women.”
This is a public health crisis: The last remaining clinic in Missouri that provides safe, legal abortion could be shut down within hours. We must fight the extremists who, in state after state, are waging a war against women. https://t.co/959YySsbHT
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) May 28, 2019
Follow Penny Starr on Twitter.
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