Mayra Rodriquez was a model employee at Planned Parenthood, even earning Employee of the Year as a healthcare administrator in Arizona.
That is, until she accused a doctor of butchering abortion patients, including almost sending one woman home with the head of her baby still inside her.
That’s when Planned Parenthood made up some shocking charges to frame her and cover up the allegations.
Rodriquez managed three Planned Parenthood facilities in Arizona and had worked for the organization for 15 years.
But she was fired after reporting a series of fraudulent and negligent activity that was endangering patients, including a doctor who had botched multiple abortions.
In August of 2017, Rodriquez began noticing and reporting about patients suffering from “substantial post-abortion surgical complications … such as extensive bleeding and painful cramping.”
She also documented patients suffering from “perforated uteruses,” which had been diagnosed by emergency room physicians in the area.
Rodriquez tied many of the complications to a single doctor who was referred to as “Dr. X” in her lawsuit.
According to her lawsuit, the doctor was also having medical assistants sign after-abortion paperwork stating the procedure was complete and that all fetal body parts were accounted for –before any abortion procedures had begun.
In the most infamous case, Rodriquez reported that “Dr. X” had completed an abortion and inserted an IUD into the patient despite leaving the baby’s head inside the woman.
According to her lawsuit, after the doctor confirmed the head was still inside, he performed a second abortion on the 19-year-old girl, removing the head and reinserting the same IUD.
“This was no fly-by-night, freelance abortionist,” Rodriquez stated in her lawsuit.
“This was our lauded doctor of many years who had the complete confidence of the Planned Parenthood executives to be placed in charge of all other doctors in Arizona, and yet he was as incompetent as someone masquerading as a physician.”
After reporting the accusations and winning her lawsuit, Rodriquez recently spoke with And Then There Were None and revealed how she was framed and wrongly accused of having drugs at work.
Rodriquez had been highly regarded at Planned Parenthood and said her record was “flawless.”
“My respect among the executives was more than I could have ever wanted,” she told And Then There Were None, which works with former Planned Parenthood employees.
That all changed when she began collecting evidence on “Dr. X” and other violations that were being covered up by the Arizona facilities.
But before taking the information to her superiors, she contacted a friend and a lead clinician at Planned Parenthood.
She was advised by the co-worker to “please wait” because the clinics were going through an accreditation process and “if you start making noise about him, it’s going to throw the whole organization on its ear.”
Before she could present her complaint, Rodriquez was accused of various offenses and pressured to sign a document that outlined numerous complaints about her, including a poorly kept office and missing money.
“For someone who had never had a reprimand in 17 years, it appeared I was a veritable whirlwind of negligence and criminal activity,” she said.
To Rodriquez, Planned Parenthood’s intentions were clear: It was using false accusations to discredit her prior to her pending complaint.
Rodriquez was concerned because she was an undocumented worker with two kids.
“They knew I was as little and powerless as can be in the United States — an immigrant without legal status,” she said.
“Therefore, they knew all they had to do was raise the shadow of their Goliath over my David and I would never even consider making a move against them.”
After Rodriquez refused to sign the document, she was accused of having drugs in her desk and was fired.
Planned Parenthood officials also ransacked her office and disposed of her evidence against the doctor. Former co-workers soon began texting her about her alleged drug use.
“The plot was thickening fast,” she said.
“It was clear Planned Parenthood was already waging a whisper campaign to sully my name. I was a little person who had given them 17 stellar years yet their tactics against me were ruthless.”
Rodriquez hired an attorney, who was able to prove that Planned Parenthood had falsified the drug allegations and attempted to frame her in order to cover up the doctor and the organization’s violations and illegal abortions.
“It took just three hours for the jury to deliberate … The jury unanimously ruled in my favor — I had been wrongfully terminated,” she said.
“In an amazing twist, they also awarded me $3 million dollars from the Planned Parenthood coffers — and I never even asked for a monetary settlement.”
Rodriguez now speaks out against Planned Parenthood and abortion through organizations like And Then There Were None.
“When Mayra came to [us] with her incredible story, I felt solidarity with her, having gone through a similar situation when I worked for Planned Parenthood,” said former Planned Parenthood director and ATTWN founder Abby Johnson.
“Standing with her through the trial and rejoicing in the ultimate victory has been amazing.”