Richards reportedly to step down as Parenthood head
Since her start at Planned Parenthood, Richards has worked to increase the number of supporters for the organization to 11 million, with 1.5 million joining in the past year.
Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards plans to step down from her position after more than a decade, according to a Buzz Feed News story citing two unnamed sources.
A Planned Parenthood representative couldn’t confirm the report, but a statement released earlier Wednesday said Richards will “discuss 2018 and the next steps for Planned Parenthood’s future at the upcoming board meeting” late next week.
Richards, 60, the daughter of late Democratic Gov. Ann Richards, is also president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, a political advocacy organization that promotes family planning and reproductive rights.
Richards became president of Planned Parenthood, a century-old women’s health organization, in 2006. Since then, she has advocated for health care access and abortion rights, including leading multiple nationwide campaigns and lobbying to ensure access to Planned Parenthood clinics.
Previously, Richards acted as the deputy chief of staff for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and as president of America Votes, a coordination of Democratic political organizations.
Since her start at Planned Parenthood, Richards has worked to increase the number of supporters for the organization to 11 million, with 1.5 million joining in the past year.
Richards has been vocal about Texas policies on women’s reproductive rights, particularly those regarding abortions.
“Politics should never tie the hands of doctors or bar women from safe medical care,” Richards said after a federal judge in Austin struck down a Texas law in November that bans a common type of second-trimester abortion unless doctors first employ an added procedure to ensure fetal demise. “Lawmakers in Texas have been trying for years to ban abortion by any means necessary. This law is the same underhanded agenda in a different package, and it’s women who get hurt in the process.”
Richards was partially raised in Austin, moving to the city with her family when she was 11. She attended St. Stephen’s Episcopal School.
After working for various political campaigns, she founded the Texas Freedom Network, an Austin-based liberal watchdog group, before moving to New York with her husband, Kirk Adams, a union leader and former political activist.