Cecile Richards, Who Made Planned Parenthood a Political Powerhouse, Dead at 67

Cecile Richards, the organizer and activist who transformed Planned Parenthood into a political powerhouse, died on Monday at age 67. A year ago, Richards announced that she had been diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive and incurable form of brain cancer.  

Richards “passed away at home, surrounded by her family and her ever-loyal dog, Ollie,” her husband Kirk, daughters Lily and Hannah, and son Daniel, said in a joint statement. “If you’d like to celebrate Cecile today, we invite you to put 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.’”

Richards used the line in an editorial she wrote for Rolling Stone on the eve of the election, urging Americans to support Kamala Harris. 

Richards was the daughter of Texas Gov. Ann Richards (D). A graduate of Brown University, she worked in labor movement, organizing garment workers in Texas and hotel workers in New Orleans, before moving to Washington D.C., where she served as deputy chief of staff to Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) before departing in 2004 to lead the progressive coalition America Votes. 

Two years later, she joined Planned Parenthood as president. She led the organization for 12 years, through multiple Republican campaigns seeking to defund the organization, and a controversy stirred by right-wing activists who falsely claimed Planned Parenthood sold fetal tissue for profit. Richards left the organization in 2016, shortly after the election of Donald Trump. Trump would go on to appoint three Supreme Court justices. That newly-conservative majority, of course, went on to strike down Roe v. Wade, eliminating the federal right to abortion. In a moment, years of work Richards spent working to expand abortion access was undone.

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“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,” Richards said, speaking to Rolling Stone in 2022. “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 recognition of her work with Planned Parenthood, President Joe Biden awarded Richards the Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor, in November. She is the first person to be honored for their work to advance abortion access. 

On Monday, remembrances of Richards poured in from politicians and activists. Harris called her “a fighter and a force to be reckoned with” who “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.” Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign remembered 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.” And Mini Timmaraju, the president of Reproductive Freedom For All, called her “a true hero, a fighter for our freedoms, and… a dear friend.”

In her own statement, Alexis McGill Johnson, the current president of Planned Parenthood, called Richards an “indomitable force” who “brought Planned Parenthood Federation of America to new heights.” 

“We are heartbroken to lose a giant in the fight for reproductive freedom,”  McGill Johnson added. “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 honor her memory is to suit up — preferably in pink — link arms, and fight like hell for Planned Parenthood patients across the country.”