Will Planned Parenthood’s Corporate Culture of Racial Intolerance Cause It to Topple?
Seattle’s corporate scene was recently abuzz with the removal of Planned Parenthood affiliate CEO Chris Charbonneau after controversy following her use of racist language on the job. In 2020, the head of New York Planned Parenthood, Laura McQuade, was ousted after being accused of treating Black workers unfairly. The “2020 Planned Parenthood CEO Compensation Report,” newly released by the American Life League, demonstrates the disturbing statistic that only 10% of the abortion giant’s executives are people of color and Planned Parenthood’s Black CEOs are among the lowest paid.
“The racially prejudiced behavior of Planned Parenthood leaders and discriminatory trends in the organization’s hiring and financial practices are not as surprising as one might think considering the group’s blatantly racist beginnings,” declared Jim Sedlak, executive director of the American Life League and chief author of the report.
Planned Parenthood has repeatedly acknowledged the eugenic intent of founder Margaret Sanger. A July 2020 statement from Planned Parenthood’s North Central States affiliate admits “her ideology that certain people—specifically people of color, people with low incomes and people with disabilities—should be prevented from having children,” and calls it a “repugnant belief.” Yet Sedlak argues that calling practices repugnant is vastly different from continuing to eschew them and operate as if Black executives are less deserving than White ones.
Charbonneau was fired in early December 2021 from her post as head of Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky, a job for which she received an annual compensation of $445,591. Sedlak noted that as Planned Parenthood’s ninth highest paid executive, Charbonneau was known for her efforts to merge affiliates and expand abortion services.
Marc Tuttle, Right to Life of Indianapolis president, views Charbonneau’s dismissal as a blessing for the women of Indiana, one of the disgraced CEO’s latest targets for increasing abortion sales.
“Planned Parenthood has one primary focus—making money. America’s largest abortion vendor is amassing obscene profits by ripping children from the wombs of their mothers—many of whom are women of color,” explained Tuttle. “And it is doing so while receiving $618 million in taxpayer dollars under the guise of being a not-for-profit organization. Indiana has escaped a bullet. The state is undoubtedly better for not having Chris Charbonneau in a position of power at Planned Parenthood.”
“There is obviously a serious problem in Planned Parenthood’s upper echelons,” observed Sedlak. “The very idea that any high-ranking executive would not realize that repeating the ‘N’ word is totally and completely inappropriate reflects a corporate culture that is fraught with bigotry. In today’s intentionally inclusive environment that is not just ignorant—it’s shameful.”
At the time McQuade was sacked in 2020, her annual compensation as CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater New York was $490,514. Those working under her reported her leadership style as autocratic and abusive. Letters published by her employees accused her of berating and humiliating them while presiding over a system that paid Black staff members unequally and kept them from advancing in their careers.
The American Life League report notes that Planned Parenthood declares that well over a third of its customers are people of color.
“That’s a deceptive attempt to claim being inclusive,” Sedlak charges. “While Planned Parenthood heavily targets Black and Hispanic women with abortion services, less than ten percent of its affiliate CEOs are people of color.”
One of only three Black CEOs, Kersha Deibel of the Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region, earns $124,045 per year and is the lowest-paid chief executive in the federation. This despite her affiliate having an annual income higher than 16 other Planned Parenthood affiliates. By contrast, one Planned Parenthood California executive, Darrah DiGiorgio Johnson, head of the Pacific Southwest affiliate, receives a yearly compensation of $616,926.
“There is an obvious disparity in the way that Planned Parenthood treats its executives of color,” observed Sedlak, “and that allows for an organizational environment that disregards and disrespects leaders that are not white. That’s rather telling for a business with admitted beginnings in eugenic efforts to keep Black women from reproducing. Will the fruit of those racist roots cause the abortion giant to topple? We certainly hope so.”
Read the 2020 Planned Parenthood CEO Compensation Report, released in December 2021. By the American Life League, here (stopp.org/pdfs/2020_PP_CEO_Report.pdf). {eoa}
The American Life League has been part of the pro-life abortion debate from its inception. Since 1979, the American Life League has committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to death with a pro-life integrity that stands up for every innocent human being whose life is threatened by a “culture of death.” For more information visit all.org.
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