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CV NEWS FEED // The Planned Parenthood clinic of Omaha, Nebraska, is experiencing a staffing crisis that abortion advocates claim is the result of corporate executives’ indifference, a Nebraska newsroom reported May 1.
The Flatwater Free Press reported that the clinic’s recent struggles have included burnout, insufficient training, unionization of Planned Parenthood North Central States employees, and high turnover. Training challenges led to a stay on rapid tests for two sexually transmitted diseases, according to the news outlet. All the factors have led to breaks with standard procedures while abortions are performed. The last licensed nurse trained to assist with abortions resigned from the clinic in April.
The Omaha clinic is also under major construction at the moment, resulting in chaos and requests to temporarily close the clinic or limit abortions and other services. However, management ignored the requests, prompting more employees to quit.
Melissa Forsyth, who formerly served as the senior director of health centers for Planned Parenthood North Central States, said that while construction and turnover are factors in the staffing crisis, the issue runs deeper.
“… I think when it all comes down to it … I don’t think they [employees] felt heard. I don’t think they felt respected in their work,” she said, according to the Flatwater Free Press. “And you do that for so long that you eventually just decide to move on.”
The Flatwater Free Press added that Planned Parenthood’s management claims employees were never pressured to break protocol, arguing that Nebraska’s systemic health care challenges caused the staffing shortage.
Management is also blaming the state’s pro-life legislation. Nebraska currently protects life in most cases after 12 weeks of pregnancy. State legislators are also considering a bill that would require abortion facilities to cremate or bury the bodies of aborted babies.
“We are working within and against these trends to build structures that will expand care long term,” Planned Parenthood North Central States spokesperson Erin Heisler Wagner stated, according to the Flatwater Free Press. “It is not easy work, and we will experience ups and downs, but we are committed to providing care to our patients and doing whatever it takes to make that happen.”
However, the issues aren’t isolated to Nebraska, the Flatwater Free Press reported. Planned Parenthood facilities across the nation are struggling to retain employees. The New York Times recently found that most of the abortion giant’s funds are used for paying legal and political expenses.
>>Women deserve better: Pro-life advocates respond to NYT’s ‘Planned Parenthood in Crisis’ report<<
Nonetheless, a shortage of abortion employees means more unborn lives saved. According to the Flatwater Free Press, employees at the Omaha facility said at the beginning of May that only three abortions had been performed since mid-March, down from multiple abortions per week in January.
