A former Planned Parenthood executive in the US is suing for wrongful dismissal, alleging she was fired after reporting an unauthorised abortion performed at around 28 weeks’ gestation.
Jacqueline Colyer, former vice president of human resources for Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, alleges that Colleen McNicholas, then chief medical officer, performed the abortion at the Fairview Heights facility after hours in 2022.
According to the lawsuit, employee Jamia Swift was called on a Sunday evening to unlock the facility for McNicholas. Colyer learned of the alleged incident in early 2024 and filed an anonymous complaint through Planned Parenthood’s third-party reporting system, ReportIt, on July 10, 2024.
Colyer asked investigators to examine security footage and key-fob records and determine who admitted the physician, administered anesthesia and secured the building afterward.
A second anonymous complaint on July 31 alleged an abortion was “provided in the basement of our clinic on a Sunday.”
Colyer subsequently received what the lawsuit describes as her only written disciplinary warning, accusing her of “insubordination and dishonesty.”
After raising the matter with the board’s president and taking medical leave, Colyer returned on December 9, 2024, and was immediately fired.
Colyer argues her dismissal constituted unlawful retaliation for reporting suspected illegal activity.
Absolutely more proof that Planned Parenthood CAN NOT be trusted with self oversight and should be under state safety regulations just like other ambulatory surgical centers. Planned Parenthood Great Rivers (PPGR) nor Great Plains affiliates penalized Dr McNicholas when SAFETY INSPECTION caught her using a suction machine contaminated with visible mold growing in tubing for abortions on as many as 40 women over a period of 3 months (obtained from MO Court caseNumber=2416-CV31931). Instead PPGR promoted McNicholas to medical director. McNicholas also became the mouth peace for Planned Parenthood in federal and state Senate and House hearings. A couple years ago Dr McNicholas just disappeared from the public scene. Now we know why. And now we find Planned Parenthood thew their own executive employee under the bus to protect their false narrative that they obey law and don’t need oversight of state safety regulations. That was Planned Parenthoid’s only argument in the referenced MO lawsuit for which Circuit Judge Zhang overturned Missouri’s abortion safety laws that protected women.