Did a Planned Parenthood throw pizza parties if abortion quotas were met?

Washington D.C., Feb 7, 2017 / 12:20 pm

Planned Parenthood clinics had monthly quotas for abortions or abortion referrals, according to two former clinic workers in a new Live Action investigative video.

"I trained my staff the way that I was trained, which was to really encourage women to choose abortion; to have it at Planned Parenthood, because it counts towards our goal," Sue Thayer, a former Planned Parenthood manager at Storm Lake, Iowa, revealed in an interview with the pro-life group Live Action.

"We would try to get the appointment scheduled for abortion before they left our clinic."

Thayer was dismissed from her job with Planned Parenthood of the Heartland in 2008, and is a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the affiliate. The Storm Lake clinic at which she worked closed in 2012.

Her lawsuit claims Planned Parenthood of the Heartland defrauded Medicaid by billing for birth control before it had been prescribed and overcharging, and that they illegally billed Medicaid for abortion-related services. A federal judge ruled in June 2016 that the lawsuit could proceed to trial.

The video is the third report in the Live Action's new investigative series on Planned Parenthood, "Abortion Corporation." The group has in the past published reports on Planned Parenthood for America and conducted undercover investigations of its clinics.

The group claimed previously that, according to their own inquiries of Planned Parenthood clinics, 92 of 97 Planned Parenthood clinics across the country admitted they did not offer prenatal care for women.

In the third video, a former center manager and a former nurse described how their clinics set monthly quotas for the number of abortions to be performed – or if they did not offer abortions, the number of abortion referrals to be done.

They would offer employees incentives such as pizza parties or extra paid time off for meeting these quotas. Center managers would be recognized by upper management if their centers consistently met their quotas.

"So there were incentives built in, and it sounds kind of crazy but pizza is a motivator," Thayer said.

Thayer described how they would pressure poor mothers into having abortions.

Clinic workers would discuss prices for services like pregnancy tests with expectant mothers. If mothers couldn't make the minimum payment for services, clinic workers would ask her how she expected to pay for child care once she had the baby.

"If they'd say, 'I'm not able to pay today,' then we would say something like, 'Well, if you can't pay $10 today, how are you going to take care of a baby? Have you priced diapers? Do you know how much it costs to buy a car seat?" Thayer recalled telling pregnant mothers.

"'There's no place in Storm Lake, or whatever town they were in, you know, where you can get help as a pregnant mom. So really, don't you think your smartest choice is termination? We can take care of that, set it up for you,'" she continued, referring to her advice for the mothers.

Marianne Anderson, a former nurse at Planned Parenthood, admitted, "I felt like I was more of a salesman sometimes, to sell abortions."

"And we were told on a regular basis that you have a quota to meet, to keep this clinic open," she said.

Lila Rose, president and founder of Live Action, insisted that Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider, should be defunded and that Tuesday's report was further proof that it must.

"Planned Parenthood doesn't have quotas for adoptions. It doesn't have quotas for prenatal care. But quotas for abortions? Absolutely," she stated.

"It's time to redirect our tax money toward local health clinics that actually provide real care to women, instead of to Planned Parenthood, a corporation focused on upping its abortion numbers."

President Trump has promised his support of stripping Planned Parenthood of federal funds, and House Speaker Paul Ryan announced early in January an effort to defund the organization in a budget bill repealing the Affordable Care Act. A bill has also been introduced in the U.S. Senate to redirect federal funding away from Planned Parenthood to women's health care providers which do not perform abortions.