Cecile Richards, former president of Planned Parenthood and a pioneering reproductive rights advocate, died Monday at her Manhattan home. She was 67. Her family said she died Monday of glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, from which she had been suffering since 2023.
Richards served as the director of Planned Parenthood from 2006 to 2018 and is the daughter of former Governor Ann Richards. She oversaw an expansion by the organization while remaining the United States’ leading provider of reproductive healthcare and sexual education, largely despite the unyielding opposition provided by conservative legislatures. Perhaps one of her most notable achievements was upholding the right to abortion throughout the presidency of both Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump.
Organizing savant Richards helped organize tens of thousands at crucial times, such as in 2013 during the front-line protests against Texas’s harsh abortion regulations. She often became a focus for anti-abortion forces who targeted the cause she advocated, which attracted national attention to the cause of reproductive rights.
She founded the Texas Freedom Network to challenge conservative legislative action and cofounded Supermajority, an organizing and mobilizing group fighting for women’s equality in policy and power.
In November 2024, President Joe Biden bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom upon Richards in recognition of her contributions to reproductive rights and social justice. “Cecile fearlessly led us forward to be the America we aspire to be,” said Biden.
Planned Parenthood and other advocacy groups have awarded Richards for being a “fearless champion for gender justice” and even seeing her as a visionary leader whose legacies will be inspiring for generations to come.
Richards is survived by her family. They remembered her as a loving mother and, an indefatigable advocate of justice. Her work remains a cornerstone in continuing the fight for reproductive freedoms within the United States.
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