DeWine’s Pick For Health Director Backs Out Hours After Announcement
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine chose Dr. Joan Duwve, currently director of public health for South Carolina’s Department of Health and Environmental Control, to head up Ohio's health department. But shortly after he made the announcement, conservatives pointed out that Duwve had worked once for Planned Parenthood and she quickly withdrew from the Ohio job offer.
Cleveland Plain Dealer:
New Ohio Health Director Backs Out Hours After Gov. Mike DeWine Announces Appointment
In an embarrassing turn, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine remains without a state health department director after a South Carolina public health official withdrew her name from consideration on Thursday night, hours after DeWine had announced she’d gotten the job. On Thursday afternoon, DeWine announced he’d hired Dr. Joan Duwve, currently director of public health for South Carolina’s Department of Health and Environmental Control, as the new director of the Ohio Department of Health. ... But after news of Duwve's withdrawal broke, socially conservative activists shared an online résumé on social media that showed she worked for Planned Parenthood as a volunteer coordinator for eight months in the early 1980s. DeWine, a Republican, opposes abortion and was elected to office in 2018 with support from anti-abortion advocacy groups. (Tobias, 9/10)
Cincinnati Enquirer:
DeWine's New Health Director Pick Declines Position Hours After Announcement
Dr. Joan Duwve will not become the next Ohio Department of Health director after all, officials announced Thursday evening. Hours after Gov. Mike DeWine announced Duwve as the state's new health director, Duwve withdrew her name from consideration for the position. ... Before earning her public health degree, Duwve was a volunteer coordinator for Planned Parenthood for seven months in 1984, according to a 2017 resume visible Thursday afternoon on the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis school of public health website. She then worked for four years from 1986-1990 as a senior grants officer for the Association for Voluntary Surgical Contraception, a family planning nonprofit known today as EngenderHealth. (Mitchell and Borchardt, 9/10)
In other news —
CBS News:
Planned Parenthood's D.C. Staffers Unionize As Abortion-Rights Groups Address Diversity Issues
Staff members at Planned Parenthood's national Washington, D.C., office say they have unionized and reached an agreement with management to improve workers' rights. The move toward collective bargaining comes as Planned Parenthood and other abortion-rights groups have been scrutinized for workplace issues, including a lack of diversity within management. Union leadership told CBS News exclusively that Planned Parenthood's roughly 70 union-eligible D.C. staffers unanimously voted to join SEIU Local 500, a local branch of the second-largest union in the U.S. Under the agreement, Planned Parenthood management will "address equity in the workplace, codify benefits, and provide members a voice in organizational decision making." (Smith, 9/10)
The Hill:
Planned Parenthood Leader At Center Of Crucial Battles On Abortion, Race
Alexis McGill Johnson, the new president of Planned Parenthood, grew up thinking about race — not so much about reproductive rights. Her parents were heavily involved in the civil rights and Black Power movements, so she grew up in a “very race conscious household,” aware as a child of the inequalities that Black people faced in the 1970s and the centuries before. In the following decades, however, states began clamping down on abortion access, and the issue for McGill Johnson become intertwined with racial inequalities that persist in 2020, including unequal access to health care, police violence and poorer health outcomes related to COVID-19. (Hellmann, 9/10)
