Prominent abortion rights activist and former president of Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards, has died aged 67.
Richards passed away at home, a year after she was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive and incurable type of brain cancer. Even after receiving treatments and undergoing surgery, Richards continued her fight for reproductive rights.
A joint statement released by her family encouraged people to celebrate her life by putting on “some New Orleans jazz, gather with friends and family over a good meal, and remember something she said a lot over the last year: ‘It’s not hard to imagine future generations one day asking: “When there was so much at stake for our country, what did you do? The only acceptable answer is: everything we could.’”
The quote was taken from a powerful editorial Richards wrote for Rolling Stone on the eve of the 2024 election, pleading Americans to vote for Kamala Harris.
Last November, she became the first person in US history to be awarded the Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honour, for their work to advance abortion access as the head of Planned Parenthood.
On Monday, Harris was one of several activists and politicians whom released a statement commemorating Richards and her legacy.
“Cecile led with heart, fearlessness, and courage on the frontlines of the fight for women’s rights and the dignity of every woman to make decisions about their own body,” Harris said, in her last official statement as vice president.
“She fought tirelessly on behalf of all women, and today millions across the nation benefit from her work.”
Alexis McGill Johnson, the current president of Planned Parenthood, described Richards as an “indomitable force”.
“We are heartbroken to lose a giant in the fight for reproductive freedom,” McGill Johnson wrote in her statement. “As we continue to navigate uncharted territory, we will be able to meet the challenges we face in large part because of the movement Cecile built over decades.”
“I know, without a doubt, that Cecile would tell us the best way to honour her memory is to suit up — preferably in pink — link arms, and fight like hell for Planned Parenthood patients across the country.”
President of the Human Rights Campaign, Kelley Robinson, described Richards as “a giant in the fight for freedom — an unwavering advocate for reproductive, workers’ and civil rights who never stopped fighting for a stronger, more inclusive country.”
Mini Timmaraju, president of Reproductive Freedom For All, called Richards “a true hero, a fighter for our freedoms, and… a dear friend.”
“Cecile Richards was my mentor and role model,” she wrote. “I was privileged to get to work by her side at Planned Parenthood Federation of America and in more recent years at Reproductive Freedom for All.”
“When I took my current role she had even more valuable insight to share, but most importantly, she expressed confidence in me—and I needed that more than I realised, especially after the Dobbs decision.”
As one of the US’s most vocal defenders of abortion rights, Richards oversaw and transformed Planned Parenthood at a time when reproductive health and sex education was being restricted and denied. She was the president of Planned Parenthood from 2006 to 2018 under both the George W. Bush presidency and Trump’s first term in office.
As a political powerhouse, she helped avert a range of attempts by Republican-controlled state legislatures to pass laws that would restrict access or cut funding.
Born in Waco, Texas, in 1957, Richards was the daughter of Texas Gov. Ann Richards and a father who worked as a labour lawyer.
After graduating from Brown University, she worked in labour movement, coordinating garment workers in her home state and hotel workers in New Orleans. She became involved in politics, relocating to the nation’s capital to serve as the deputy chief of staff to Rep. Nancy Pelosi. In 2004, she left her role to lead the progressive coalition America Votes.
Two years later, she became the president of Planned Parenthood. She led the country’s largest reproductive health provider for 12 years, through a series of Republican campaigns aiming to defund the organisation.
When a conservative majority in the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in 2022, Richards told Rolling Stone, “My feeling is not a personal one: It’s much more just horror that this is the state of the United States at this point.”
“It’s not only abortion — it’s the thought of the country being ruled by a minority, and moving more into this completely totalitarian regime where it doesn’t matter what the majority thinks, whether it’s on gun reform, the right to make your own decisions about pregnancy, climate. It’s just horrifying that we are living in a non-democratic country right now.”
In an essay for the NYTimes in January of that year, Richards wrote, “If I have one regret from my time leading Planned Parenthood, it is that we believed that providing vital health care, with public opinion on our side, would be enough to overcome the political onslaught.”
“I underestimated the callousness of the Republican Party and its willingness to trade off the rights of women for political expediency.
“The erosion of reproductive rights is a result of raw, bare-knuckled politics, of a minority exercising its power over a majority. The millions of Americans who are watching, horrified, as the Supreme Court prepares to roll back a right they have had for nearly half a century need to be just as dogged and determined.”
Richard launched her final project last October just days before the US presidential election. The media project blended activism and journalism via the use of TikTok and Instagram to publish stories of abortion beyond traditional media.
She is survived by her husband Kirk, daughters Lily and Hannah, and son Daniel.