Radio Transcript

LIFE ISSUES NO. 1317

THE NEW PRESIDENT OF PLANNED PARENTHOOD

Planned Parenthood has appointed a new president - Gloria Feldt. She replaces Pamela Maraldo who had resigned nine months earlier.

Perhaps you remember the decade-long tenure of Faye Waddleton, the tall, statuesque, aggressively pro-abortion black lady. As president, she had effectively pointed Planned Parenthood into an increasing emphasis on abortion.

Her successor, Maraldo, came with a policy shift, and that was to turn those Planned Parenthood clinics into primary care centers. They would still do abortions but would offer much broader patient care.

And now it changes again. It seems that Feldt is far less concerned about what Maraldo was trying to do, that is, to compete with managed care organizations, to push aggressively beyond reproductive health care and to turn Planned Parenthood into a provider of general family medicine. Maraldo apparently was moving too far and too fast for the Planned Parenthood Board, and it felt that she was not paying enough attention to the group's primary advocacy for abortion rights.

What had Ms. Feldt done prior to this appointment? Well, during her tenure in Arizona, where she was president, she increased the number of Planned Parenthood clinics from 3 to 16, increased the operating budget from $1 to $8 million a year, and increased fund raising by more than 2000%. Hmmm. By any estimate, that's a success, and she now is the one who moves in as the new head of Planned Parenthood -- clearly a dedicated abortion person, an aggressive, intelligent woman who has substantially expanded Planned Parenthood in her own state of Arizona.

I think it's clear that Feldt is going to re-emphasize abortion and birth control in their clinics. She has said, "I think different things make sense in different areas. In a rural area where there isn't much medical care, perhaps Planned Parenthood should offer primary care." But in many urban areas she says it would be foolish. And guess where Planned Parenthood is concentrated? You all know -- it's in the inner city. It's in minority race areas. This has always been the major thrust of Planned Parenthood - a racist thrust - that is, to kill off the children of the poor as a method of solving poverty. Of course, this goes back to Margaret Sanger, who incidentally lived out her declining years in Arizona.

What does this mean for the pro-life movement? Well, I think, in the overall, it's probably bad news because of their newly resurgent emphasis on abortion through this new leader. I really didn't think Planned Parenthood could become even more evil, but maybe it will under this new president.

[07/23/96]