"A light, a champion, a force for good"
Julia Conley for Common Dreams
Richards' husband and three children confirmed her death in
a statement posted on social media.
Richards, the daughter of former Democratic Texas Gov. Ann Richards, had an early introduction to progressive politics.
At 16 she worked on a
campaign to elect Sarah Waddington, the lawyer who argued in favor of abortion
rights before the U.S. Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade, and in college
she helped push Brown University to divest from companies that supported
apartheid in South Africa.
After years of labor organizing work, Richards became the
president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. She sat at the helm of
the organization for 12 years, leading it as it became more vocal in electoral
politics and fought state-level battles against abortion restrictions.
She was the national face of the organization and spoke
frequently on its behalf at political events and galas, but also stood
shoulder-to-shoulder with abortion rights supporters at pivotal moments in the
fight against right-wing efforts to attack reproductive justice.
In 2013, after then-Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis (D-10) made national headlines by spending 13 hours filibustering an omnibus bill that contained a host of anti-abortion measures, Richards rallied supporters in the state Capitol to yell loud enough to halt the Senate debate over the legislation—a move that Republican lawmakers later blamed for the bill's failure.
"That was vital," Dave Cortez of Occupy
Austin told The Texas
Tribune. "Her support really helped put it all together."
Davis called Richards "a light, a champion, a force for
good" on Monday.
Calling her death "a heartbreaking loss,"
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said the former Planned Parenthood
leader "spent her life on the front lines, fighting for women's rights
throughout this country."
After leaving Planned Parenthood in 2018, Richards
co-founded the progressive political mobilization group Supermajority and
toured the nation speaking out against
President Donald Trump's nomination of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett
Kavanaugh.
She also cofounded the chatbot Charley, which connects people seeking abortion care
with reproductive health organizations, and Abortion in America, a project that
publishes the personal stories of people who have obtained abortions since the
Supreme Court overturned Roe in 2022.
"The only thing people respond to and remember are
stories," Richards told The New
York Times last October. "We have to figure out: How do you catch
the attention of people that, even if they could find the article, don't have
20 minutes to read it?"
Richards' death was announced just hours before Trump, who
has bragged about
his role in overturning Roe and mocked the family of one woman who
died after being unable to receive standard care under Georgia's abortion ban,
was to be sworn in for his second term in office.
"As if today wasn't bad enough, the passing of Cecile
Richards, former Planned Parenthood leader, is beyond tragic for all women in
U.S," said former Rep.
Jackie Speier (D-Calif.). "Her powerful voice for women's freedom has been
silenced. Rest in power, dear friend."
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said Richards "modeled guts and
grit in public service, showing courage and fortitude beyond words as a
champion of women's reproductive freedom."
In their statement, Richards' family asked that
supporters who wish to honor her listen to "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."
