Planned Parenthood Under Fire for Discriminating Against Pregnant Workers

No, this isn’t a story from The Onion, although it’s hard to think of a more ironic headline in recent times. The idea that Planned Parenthood is coming under fire from pregnant employees who say the company discriminated against them at the workplace is just too rich.

On the one hand, it shouldn’t really be surprising. Why would anyone expect a company whose bread and butter is destroying pregnancies to treat pregnant employees with the slightest respect? If we found out that the powers-that-be at Planned Parenthood were discreetly encouraging pregnant employees to, um, avail themselves of the company’s services, we would not be shocked.

The women accusing the company of maltreatment don’t go that far, but they do say that Planned Parenthood managers have violated the law by disallowing them extra breaks, considering pregnancy as a factor in hiring decisions, and engaging in other forms of discrimination.

From The New York Times:

In interviews and legal documents, women at Planned Parenthood and other organizations with a feminist bent described discrimination that violated federal or state laws — managers considering pregnancy in hiring decisions, for example, or denying rest breaks recommended by a doctor.

In other cases, the bias was more subtle. Many women said they were afraid to announce a pregnancy at work, sensing they would be seen as abandoning their colleagues.

Some of those employers saw accommodating expecting mothers as expensive and inconvenient. Others were unsympathetic to workers seeking special treatment.

…

And at Planned Parenthood, the country’s leading provider of reproductive services, managers in some locations declined to hire pregnant job candidates, refused requests by expecting mothers to take breaks and in some cases pushed them out of their jobs after they gave birth, according to current and former employees in California, Texas, North Carolina and New York.

The most shocking part of this story is that it appeared in The New York Times. What do you want to bet that the writers are taking some heat for running this investigation in their little feminist elite circles? You can’t talk smack about our blessed Planned Parenthood! What…what are you, some kind of CONSERVATIVE? Ugh!

Good for the Times for covering this scandal. Every now and again, the old Gray Lady actually lives up to its billing.