Leana S. Wen Quotes:
Abortions are safe.
Leana S. Wen
Abortions that occur late in pregnancy are often due to extreme, extenuating circumstances such as when a woman’s life is in danger, when there has been a severe fetal diagnosis, or when the pregnancy is not viable.
Leana S. Wen
Addressing motor vehicle crashes as a public health issue didn’t stop people from driving cars, but it did make being on the road a lot safer.
Leana S. Wen
An effective public-health response requires that those leading the response pivot when new information comes out and change course when unexpected circumstance arise.
Leana S. Wen
As a former local health official, I can tell you that local health departments are chronically understaffed and do not have the capacity to analyze scientific reports and synthesize them into policies and regulations.
Leana S. Wen
By definition, outbreaks are quickly evolving situations. Outbreaks with novel diseases bring even more unknowns.
Leana S. Wen
Constant reevaluation is the bedrock of any emergency response.
Leana S. Wen
Continuing the legacy of Elijah E. Cummings requires that we fulfill our destiny to fight for the world as it should be.
Leana S. Wen
Driving is an activity that carries risk, which can be reduced by following the speed limit and wearing a seat belt.
Leana S. Wen
Elijah E. Cummings leaves behind an invaluable legacy as a congressman for Baltimore for more than two decades and as a champion for social justice. His passing is a call to cherish the many gifts he imparted on all those fortunate to know him, but it’s also a reminder of a painful reality facing people of color: shorter life expectancy.
Leana S. Wen
Every day, I think, by the grace of God, I’m here, blessed to be a U.S. citizen, but I could have just as easily been a Dreamer too.
Leana S. Wen
Every time I am on air, I will receive actually quite a few messages that specifically tie me to the Chinese Communist Party – which is ludicrous because my family left on political asylum from China – or that will blame me and ‘my people’ for the coronavirus.
Leana S. Wen
For covid-19, we can think of risk through three key variables: proximity, activity and time. The highest-risk scenario is if you are in close proximity with someone who is infected, in an indoor space, for an extended period of time.
Leana S. Wen
For millions of women, health centers that provide reproductive healthcare are the only place they ever see a doctor or nurse. When abortion politics force health centers to close, women – particularly low-income women and women of color – suffer.
Leana S. Wen
I believed we could expand support for Planned Parenthood – and ultimately for abortion access – by finding common ground with the large majority of Americans who can unite behind the goal of improving the health and well-being of women and children.
Leana S. Wen
I don’t think that people should have the choice to infect others with a potentially fatal and extremely contagious virus.
Leana S. Wen
I had severe asthma when I was a child and I saw doctors growing up. Seeing someone who could not only help me medically, but also assure me that I was going to be O.K. at this really terrifying time – that’s what I wanted to do.
Leana S. Wen
I had this childhood dream that I wanted to be a doctor, but I came from a neighborhood and an environment where nobody around me was a doctor. I literally didn’t know how one goes from studying in college to becoming a doctor.
Leana S. Wen
If someone is told they have depression or addiction, why don’t we allow them the same compassion and time for healing as if they were diagnosed with high blood pressure or diabetes? These are all illnesses for which treatment exists and recovery is possible.
Leana S. Wen
Improvements in global public health must begin locally, and must be driven by leaders who will learn the hard lessons from COVID-19.
Leana S. Wen
In college, if anyone asked me – professors or classmates – I said, ‘I want to be a lab tech.’ Because I was afraid that people would laugh at me if I said I wanted to be a doctor.
Leana S. Wen
In many patients, covid-19 causes a bilateral pneumonia affecting both lungs. Air sacs in the lungs become inflamed and filled with fluid, leading to breathing difficulties and low oxygen saturation. If the pneumonia becomes extremely severe, patients need to be intubated and put on a ventilator.
Leana S. Wen
In my life as an immigrant living in low-income communities, as an emergency physician and as a public health advocate, I have seen more preventable deaths than I can count or recall.
Leana S. Wen
My job as the doctor is to provide my patients with the information and services they need to make the best decisions for them and their families. Medicine is complex, and every situation is different.
Leana S. Wen
My mother cleaned hotel rooms and worked in a video store. My father delivered newspapers and washed dishes in restaurants.
Leana S. Wen
My parents and I entered the U.S. legally, but when it was time for our visa extension, we were turned down. Returning to China meant imprisonment for my father and persecution for my family. We were days from being forced to live here illegally when we were granted political asylum. Other families are not so lucky.
Leana S. Wen
My parents sacrificed everything because they wanted a better life for me and my little sister. That’s why we came to the U.S. So it wasn’t an option not to step up to those high expectations. So I didn’t go to high school. There was an early entrance program at California State in Los Angeles, and I started college at 13.
Leana S. Wen
Of the many lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic thus far, two of the most critical are the need for effective national leadership and clear, consistent communication. Countries that fared well had both in abundance; those that didn’t often faltered.
Leana S. Wen
Over and over again, I have also seen our health care system fail women because of discriminatory policies.
Leana S. Wen
People depend on Planned Parenthood for breast exams, cervical cancer screenings, H.I.V. testing and family planning.
Leana S. Wen
People of color face more barriers to health care, as do low-income individuals and those living in underserved rural and urban areas.
Leana S. Wen
Planned Parenthood’s work – bringing affordable and accessible health care to as many women (and men and all people) as possible – isn’t just the right thing to do. It’s the urgent thing to do.
Leana S. Wen