Planned Parenthood to cut staff at national level in strategy shift

Planned Parenthood announced a major strategy shift Tuesday that would prioritize investments in local and state affiliates and result in a significant cut to the workforce at the national level.

The announcement comes one year after Roe v. Wade was overturned and the fight to protect abortion rights has played out on state levels across the country. Fourteen states now ban most abortions, while other states await court decisions to determine whether certain abortion laws are legal. On the other side, some states have passed further protections to safeguard abortion rights.

“We don’t take this moment lightly. The shifting landscape requires very difficult decisions about the way forward, meaning that some of our fiercest, most incredible staff won’t continue on this journey with us. They will receive financial support and health care coverage, as well as career transition assistance,” Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Action CEO Alexis McGill Johnson said in a press release Tuesday.

The investments will total more than $70 million and will go toward expanding Planned Parenthood’s direct investment in the 49 independent affiliates in 50 states and Washington, D.C., as well as in digital health care platforms. Planned Parenthood said the goal is to continue to provide quality health care and education, to increase access to abortion care and to “build a powerful movement for abortion access at the local and state level.”

The investments will also go toward political advocacy, mobilizing supporters, reducing stigma and working to rebuild the fight for abortion access on the federal level. Planned Parenthood will also launch a Black Health Equity Initiative to specifically target inequities in care for Black patients, starting with states in the South and Midwest.

“Centering and scaling health equity in an ever-changing health care landscape, and building the infrastructure at the intersection of movements for freedom is our path forward. And it starts with investing in the states,” Johnson wrote in the press release.

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