The President of Planned Parenthood is stepping down after 12 years at the widely successful women’s health-care organization.
Apparently the announcement is due to come next week. ‘Cecile Richards plans to discuss 2018 and the next steps for Planned Parenthood’s future at the upcoming board meeting,’ the organization said in a statement.
The news was first reported Wednesday by BuzzFeed News.
President of Planned Parenthood Cecile Richards is stepping down after 12 years at the widely successful women’s health-care organization
Richards, 60, has been a pivotal figure in congressional fights over federal funding for Planned Parenthood’s clinics.
Through the majority of her career at Planned Parenthood she has been involved in numerous battles to protect its taxpayer funding.
The organization provides nonabortion-related health services to women, particularly in rural communities.
Meanwhile President Donald Trump’s administration is attempting to decrease contraception access while tightening abortion restrictions.
Richards has fiercely championed abortion rights despite attacks from conservative lawmakers.
Cecile Richards attended the Women’s March on Washington on January 21, 2017
The news comes after the pro-choice activist gave an empowering speech on equality at the Women’s March Power to the Polls rally in Las Vegas on Sunday.
Richards joined a host of other speakers, including Cher and civil rights icon congressman John Lewis, at Sunday’s Women’s March ‘Power to the Polls’ rally in Las Vegas.
While promoting equality, Richards addressed white women telling them to ‘do better’ because the burden to push the country forward cannot rest solely on women of color.
‘Cecile Richards plans to discuss 2018 and the next steps for Planned Parenthood’s future at the upcoming board meeting,’ the organization said in a statement
President Cecile Richards spoke during a rally outside of the Capitol Building on July 27, 2017 in Washington, DC
‘All across the country, the Women’s March inspired doctors and teachers and mothers to become activists and organizers and, yes, candidates for office,’ Richards said. A video of her speech is being widely circulated on Twitter.
‘And from Virginia to Alabama and to last week in Wisconsin, women have beaten the odds to elect our own to office. … Women of color, transgender women, rural and urban women.’
Richards then said all those victories were ‘made possible by women of color’.
‘So, white women, listen up. We’ve got to do better. We’ve got to do better,’ she said as the crowd erupted in cheers and applause. ‘It is not up to women of color to save this country from itself. That’s on all of us.’