Planned Parenthood of Illinois agreed to pay $500,000 after an investigation into charges brought by multiple employees determined that the nation’s largest abortion provider engaged in “unlawful discrimination and harassment against white employees.”

According to a Thursday statement from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Planned Parenthood of Illinois — an affiliate of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America — violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The agency concluded that the organization violated federal law when it “segregated employees by race, subjected white employees to harassment, and engaged in disparate treatment against white employees regarding terms, conditions, and privileges of employment.”

An investigation began after multiple Planned Parenthood staffers filed charges against the organization. The EEOC found that Planned Parenthood required employees to attend “affinity caucuses” segregated by race or diversity, equity and inclusion training sessions.

These DEI-related training sessions repeatedly involved “harassing and derogatory statements targeting white employees, including that they ‘are White and do not feel racism the same way non-White patients feel.’”

Staff were required on a weekly basis to attend one- to two-hour sessions of the segregated racial affinity caucuses or the DEI training sessions, according to the EEOC. The agency also found that Planned Parenthood did not provide equal time off, denying requests from white employees that it granted to black employees.

“Segregating employees by race violates the core promise of our nation’s civil rights laws,” EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas said in a statement. “Title VII guarantees equal treatment for every employee and prohibits race discrimination in America’s workplaces.

“Those protections equally apply to white workers. There is no DEI exception to Title VII’s requirements. Employers who deliberately separate workers or subject them to harassment because of their race, including white employees, violate federal law,” Lucas continued. “The Commission will continue to enforce these protections to ensure equal opportunity for all.”

Planned Parenthood of Illinois and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America did not immediately respond to The Christian Post’s request for comment.

In a statement, Planned Parenthood of Illinois President and CEO Adrienne White-Faines said she was not responsible for the policies that prompted the EEOC’s investigation.

“In the time since this complaint was filed, and since I came on board as President and CEO in 2025, I have overseen significant change at the organization, including across the leadership team,” White-Faines stated. “Planned Parenthood of Illinois has now come to an agreement with the EEOC about a path forward that will allow us to put this matter behind us and continue providing critical healthcare services to our valued patients from Illinois and across the country.”

The EEOC’s investigation is not the first time Planned Parenthood has been accused of racial discrimination.

In October 2022, Nicole Moore, Planned Parenthood’s former director of multicultural brand engagement, filed a lawsuit claiming the organization had a “structural racism” issue.

Moore, who worked for Planned Parenthood from January 2020 to October 2021, alleged that “racism was widespread at the organization.” She accused the organization of reprimanding her for “raising her concerns about racial disparities in leadership” and of holding black employees to a “double standard regarding contract work.”

In 2020, more than 120 black American leaders signed a letter asking Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill Johnson to renounce the organization’s founder, Margaret Sanger, and to address the impact of abortion on black communities.

The Planned Parenthood president published an op-ed in April 2021 addressing questions about Sanger’s views on race and eugenics. In the op-ed, Johnson acknowledged Sanger’s association with “white supremacist groups” and endorsement of Buck v. Bell, a Supreme Court decision permitting the sterilization of those deemed “unfit.”

Johnson said the organization would make “Margaret Sanger less prominent in our present and future.” However, she maintained that Planned Parenthood’s founder “remains an influential part of our history and will not be erased.”

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