As a child in Mexico, Mayra Rodriguez saw her mother working in health care. Gradually, she began to take an interest in pursuing this profession herself in the future. Later as a student she decided to take courses in business administration for the health industry, and eventually became a clinical laboratory technician.
Coming to Planned Parenthood
When she immigrated to the United States with her family, Mayra arrived in Phoenix, Arizona. There, one of her friends invited her to work in healthcare. She was well suited for the job because they needed Hispanic personnel who were fluent in Spanish. Believing that she had found her dream job, Mayra decided to accept the job. She was enthusiastic about the idea of helping other women, particularly Latinas. The job was at a Planned Parenthood clinic.
The cold reality of abortion centers
In 2016, Mayra was recognized as employee of the year by the IPPF (International Planned Parenthood Federation). She earned the position of director at a clinic that offered abortions in Arizona. After some time in that post, she recalls:
As the director of what was primarily an abortion clinic, I found that I was telling women who came to one of our preventative health centers that abortion was safe, even safer than a full pregnancy, so it was better to have an abortion.
On one occasion, a nurse approached Mayra to report that the doctor who had performed an abortion had left the baby’s head inside a patient he was treating. The patient was 19 years old and 14 weeks pregnant. The nurse had noticed the mistake because at the end of an aspiration abortion the mutilated remains of the baby are taken to the “Product of Conception” area, where the parts of the baby are identified and put together like a jigsaw puzzle to ensure that all the parts are present.
The doctor refused to recognize his mistake, since that would mean giving the patient a second dose of fentanyl, a drug used as anesthesia, and removing the intrauterine device he had implanted in the young woman.
Mayra recounts the doctor’s response when he brought it to her attention:
He said, “go and look for it in the trash.” I’m not going to lie: I knew the remains were going into a red bag — I always knew that — and then they’re thrown away with the medical waste and finally burned.”
It was there, however, that Mayra’s life changed completely. “Hearing the baby referred to as garbage was what shocked me the most,” Mayra said.
Holding Planned Parenthood accountable
Mayra couldn’t keep silent. She reported the dangerous medical practices she observed at the clinic to her superiors — and was fired under the accusation of having narcotics inside her desk.
Mayra began a legal battle where she confronted the abortion behemoth by filing a lawsuit for wrongful termination and malpractice to stand up women’s health, which she realized was not served by abortion. She also started speaking up for the rights of the unborn.
Despite many difficulties, she won the lawsuit in 2019, becoming the only former employee to have won such a lawsuit.
Today, Mayra thanks God for having had this experience. It was only in this way that God opened her eyes to defend the culture of life. Now she helps many women who are in difficult situations, warning that there is no such thing as “safe abortion” and that there are harmful physical, psychological, and emotional consequences.
And today we celebrate...