A Fox News investigation criticized new Planned Parenthood leader Leana Wen for hypocrisy in her advocacy for transparency among doctors.
Wen, who took over for Cecile Richards as the CEO of the billion-dollar abortion chain, is a former emergency room doctor and health commissioner of Baltimore. Planned Parenthood announced her as its new leader last week.
An author and liberal health care advocate, Wen made a name for herself, in part, by setting up a website “Who’s My Doctor” to promote doctor transparency. The website allows patients to find out personal information about their doctors, such as their political position on abortion and the funding they receive from drug companies and other outside groups.
“I believe in practicing what we preach, in the art as well as the science of medicine, and in public accountability for matters as important as our health,” Wen said on the website.
But Fox News found that Wen herself did not disclose information about her political beliefs or the outside money she has received:
Wen also criticized medical professionals who receive outside funding as this changes their behavior and generally interfere with patient care. “Dozens of studies have shown that when docs receive money from drug companies—even a free lunch—it does affect prescription behavior,” she said.
But on her own profile on the “Who’s My Doctor” website that she created, Wen said she believes “in practicing what we preach” and listed $0 payments or gifts from any pharmaceutical or medical device companies.
But according to Dollars For Docs database, Wen received over $600 for “travel and lodging” from E. R. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C., a subsidiary of pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb Company that directly matches gifts to Planned Parenthood and is a corporate supporter of the Center for Reproductive Rights, a pro-abortion group.
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Wen did not respond to repeated Fox News’ requests for a comment asking for her political affiliation or her views on abortion and why she did not list the payment received by the pharmaceutical company.
According to the report, Wen also praised the communist health care system in China under notorious leader Mao Zedong in a 2013 article for the Huffington Post. She described the universal health care system as a “robust” and a “social good.”
It also is not clear how much Planned Parenthood is paying Wen. Her predecessor, Cecile Richards, made nearly $1 million a year running the abortion chain. The abortion “non-profit” receives nearly half a billion dollars in taxpayer funding each year, so transparency should be important in that area as well.
As the Baltimore city health commissioner, Wen was the fifth highest paid city employee, according to the Baltimore Sun.
Wen joins Planned Parenthood as the U.S. Department of Justice investigates whether it illegally sold aborted baby body parts. Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion business in America, aborting approximately 320,000 unborn babies every year. Its most recent annual report showed a record income of $1.46 billion, with about half a billion dollars coming from taxpayers. The abortion chain says it sees about 2.4 million patients a year.
