Cecile Richards, an abortion rights and feminist activist who served as president of Planned Parenthood and its Planned Parenthood Action Fund advocacy organization, has died. She was 67 years old.
“Our hearts are broken today but no words can do justice to the joy she brought to our lives,” her family said in a statement on her social media accounts. In 2023, Richards was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a fast-growing and aggressive form of brain tumor.
Early in her career, Richards, daughter of the late Texas Gov. Ann Richards, was a labor-rights organizer and helped with her mother’s gubernatorial campaign. She later moved to Washington, D.C., where she worked on Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s congressional staff.
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America named Richards its president in 2006. She was a frequent presence in the news as she defended the nonprofit reproductive health care organization.
Richards called the inclusion of birth control coverage in the Affordable Care Act one of her proudest achievements.
“I was sitting in the Planned Parenthood office, and President Obama called, and he said, ‘Cecile, I just wanted you to know – I'm about to announce at the White House that, from now on, birth control will get covered by all insurance plans at no cost for all people,’” she said in a 2022 episode of the PBS show “Tell Me More with Kelly Corrigan.” “I felt so honored to be the person who got the call, but, obviously, it was millions of people that had made that happen.”
After her departure from Planned Parenthood in 2018, she founded a women’s political action committee called Supermajority. She had recently founded a project called Abortion in America that sought to share reproductive health stories from Americans across the country.
Last year, Richards told The 19th, a nonprofit news outlet that reports on gender, politics and policy, that she thought it would be “a long time” before the reproductive rights that had been protected under Roe v. Wade – overturned by the Supreme Court in 2022 – would be restored.
“For people who face challenges based on race, geography, income, and more, these inequities are deep-seated, intersectional and much more difficult to eradicate,” she said. “We need to be ready for a multi-year fight.”
PBS NewsHour
Cecile Richards, an abortion rights and feminist activist who served as president of Planned Parenthood and its Planned Parenthood Action Fund advocacy organization, has died. She was 67 years old.
“Our hearts are broken today but no words can do justice to the joy she brought to our lives,” her family said in a statement on her social media accounts. In 2023, Richards was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a fast-growing and aggressive form of brain tumor.
Early in her career, Richards, daughter of the late Texas Gov. Ann Richards, was a labor-rights organizer and helped with her mother’s gubernatorial campaign. She later moved to Washington, D.C., where she worked on Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s congressional staff.
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America named Richards its president in 2006. She was a frequent presence in the news as she defended the nonprofit reproductive health care organization.
Richards called the inclusion of birth control coverage in the Affordable Care Act one of her proudest achievements.
“I was sitting in the Planned Parenthood office, and President Obama called, and he said, ‘Cecile, I just wanted you to know – I'm about to announce at the White House that, from now on, birth control will get covered by all insurance plans at no cost for all people,’” she said in a 2022 episode of the PBS show “Tell Me More with Kelly Corrigan.” “I felt so honored to be the person who got the call, but, obviously, it was millions of people that had made that happen.”
After her departure from Planned Parenthood in 2018, she founded a women’s political action committee called Supermajority. She had recently founded a project called Abortion in America that sought to share reproductive health stories from Americans across the country.
Last year, Richards told The 19th, a nonprofit news outlet that reports on gender, politics and policy, that she thought it would be “a long time” before the reproductive rights that had been protected under Roe v. Wade – overturned by the Supreme Court in 2022 – would be restored.
“For people who face challenges based on race, geography, income, and more, these inequities are deep-seated, intersectional and much more difficult to eradicate,” she said. “We need to be ready for a multi-year fight.”
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 6,032