Yes, Planned Parenthood workers are tired

No, they are not routinely "botching" IUD insertions or abortions

We are the former and current staffers of Planned Parenthood health centers.

Many of us have counseled patients about their birth control and pregnancy options, supported patients who’ve disclosed stories of abuse or rape, and fielded threats to our and our patients’ safety for minimum wage.

We’ve done this while facing ever-increasing pressure to see more patients without additional resources or staff.

A recent article by Times correspondent Katie Benner drew attention to these problems, but it gave the impression that routine, safe procedures performed at Planned Parenthood, like IUD insertions and abortions, are dangerous; and that medical errors, complications, and negligence are common. They are not. It also failed to compare the frequency of errors made at Planned Parenthood with the frequency of errors made at other health centers.

This context of relative risk is essential to help people make informed decisions about their medical care, their bodies, and where they might want to seek (or avoid seeking) care.

We also take issue with the article’s repeated use of inflammatory and medically imprecise language, like “the baby was still in her womb,” regarding a fetus, and descriptions of abortions and IUD insertions as “botched.”

This reporting contributes to false narratives and stigma being purported by people who want us to believe that abortion care and contraceptives are unsafe. (Again, they are not.)

More importantly, it contributes to negative health outcomes for people who are understandably influenced by these false narratives and are then deterred from seeking care.

The truth is: the biggest risks most patients seeking abortion face are legal ones. IUD insertions and abortions are routine, safe, and effective procedures.

Here’s the data:

• Medication abortions range from 92% to 98% effective, depending on the gestational age of the pregnancy and the way the medications are taken. (NIH)

• In-clinic abortions work more than 99% of the time. (National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine)

• Only about 2% of abortions are estimated to result in complications, and most of these complications are considered minor. (StatPearls)

• Fewer than 1 out of 100,000 abortions in the U.S. results in fatality. (NIH)

• Serious complications (uterine perforations) after IUD placement occur less than 0.5% of the time. (Current Obstetrics and Gynecology Reports 2023 review article)

• States with more restrictions on abortion care have fewer maternal health care providers and higher rates of maternal and infant deaths than states where abortion is available. (Guttmacher)

This letter would feel less urgent if we didn’t live in a time in which our reproductive rights were under attack.

More than 171,000 people crossed state lines in 2023 to get the abortion care they needed, incurring travel costs, childcare costs, and the cost of taking time off of work, in addition to healthcare costs.

As we write this, six states are seriously considering bills that would charge people who have abortions with murder (and would investigate people who have had miscarriages).

Republican politicians have the audacity to claim that these attacks on essential healthcare are in service of women: of protecting women from some of the very outcomes Benner’s article presents as if they were common.

As Planned Parenthood workers, here’s what we want you to know: Planned Parenthood is where many of us have sought and would seek care today. It’s where we’ve had our own IUDs placed, received breast and cervical cancer screenings, had our blood drawn for STI tests, been given antibiotics for UTIs, and yes — in some cases — undergone the routine procedure or been prescribed the pills that would terminate our pregnancies with a lower risk than many over-the-counter medications, including Ibuprofen.

Planned Parenthood does suffer from inadequate funding and staffing. We, like many of the people quoted in Benner’s article, believe fiercely that patients deserve access to the highest quality of care, which is why many of us have unionized and fought for higher wages, increased staffing, and better worker protections. We know that when healthcare workers are compensated well, turnover decreases and quality of care increases.

That said, the issues we’ve fought for are situated within a much larger context of systemic inequities that pervade the profit-driven healthcare industry and the woefully inadequate support we’re given by the government that is supposed to serve all of us.

The bottom line is this: The fight for fair and competitive compensation for healthcare workers is central to the fight for bodily autonomy. That fight doesn’t succeed by scaring patients away from the essential, routine, and — in the vast majority of circumstances — safe care that Planned Parenthood provides. It also doesn’t succeed by handing Republicans the talking points they’ll use to undermine the care happening at Planned Parenthood, along with the necessity of access to that care.

Benner calls Planned Parenthood “the healthcare provider of last resort for millions of poor Americans.” We vehemently disagree. Planned Parenthood is the first choice healthcare provider for millions of Americans who tell us they can’t get quality, compassionate, patient-centered care anywhere else.

Signed,

Kaitlyn Anne and Katie B.

Also signed by 803 current and former Planned Parenthood health center staff from 32 states and counting. Are you a current or former Planned Parenthood clinical staff member? Add your name using this link.

Eve K

Lindsay B

Cierra P

Katie B

Meg M

Kirstin D

Ocean C

Hannah L

Gilly H

Zoe F

Summer M

Wendy C

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Bonnie S

Bella M

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Felisha A

Anna G

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Emma F

Veronica S

Dee G

Tasha S

Savannah M

Stephanie S

Amy L

Caitlin M

Elizabeth K

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Linda C

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Tanairy P

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Carolyn F

Jessica B

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Caitlin A

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Are you a current or former Planned Parenthood clinical staff member? Add your name using this link.