Cecile Richards, Feminist Activist and Former Planned Parenthood President, Has Died

cecile richards
Feminist Activist Cecile Richards Has Died Gary Gershoff


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Cecile Richards, a prominent feminist activist and a former president of Planned Parenthood, has died at age 67.

“This morning our beloved Cecile passed away at home, surrounded by her family and her ever-loyal dog, Ollie. Our hearts are broken today but no words can do justice to the joy she brought to our lives,” her family wrote in a statement shared this Monday morning. Her cause of death was an aggressive form of brain cancer.

Throughout her adult life, Richards was a fierce advocate for women’s rights, including the right to abortion, the right to health care, and other reproductive freedoms, which the incoming MAGA administration promises to attack.

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Though she was diagnosed with glioblastoma in 2023, Richards remained active in the causes that mattered to her and even made an appearance at the Democratic National Convention in August 2024, where she gave a powerful speech highlighting the importance of improving reproductive health care. “When women are free to make their own decisions about their lives and to follow our dreams, we are unstoppable,” she said “But when Roe v. Wade was overturned, a generation of young people lost that freedom.”

At the convention, she also helped cast Texas’s ceremonial votes to nominate Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for president. Richards said of getting to vote for a female candidate: “I had been waiting for this chance all my life.”

american pro choice activist planned parenthood president cecile richards speaks, in opposition to texas house bill 15 hb15, during a press conference at the texas state capitol, austin, texas, may 11, 2011 hb15 was a piece of state legislation requiring a sonogram before a woman can obtain an abortion photo by john andersonthe austin chroniclegetty images
John Anderson - Getty Images

Richards began fighting for human rights and women’s freedoms when she was just a teenager. At 16, she worked on a campaign to elect Sarah Weddington, the attorney who stood against Texas’s abortion ban in Roe v. Wade. In her 20s, she organized campaigns for labor unions and working-class communities, and even helped her mother, Ann Richards, in her successful campaign to become governor of Texas.

But it was at Planned Parenthood where Richards did her most passionate and impactful work. As the president of the organization from 2006 to 2018—the longest any person has held the position—she fought fiercely against growing Republican efforts to ban abortion and cut funding to reproductive health centers. With her push, the organization found a bigger seat in politics, always with the goal of standing behind leaders who would respect reproductive rights. In 2008, Planned Parenthood endorsed Barack Obama for president, and in 2016, it backed Hillary Clinton.

planned parenthood president cecile richards speaks from a lectern during the stand with texas women pro choice womens reproductive health rally at the texas state capitol, austin, texas, july 1, 2013 among those behind her are state senators wendy davis left, in sleeveless orange dress and royce west center left, in beige suit behind them, several people hold signs, including ones that read stop the war on women and stand with wendy the rally took place at the beginning of a second special legislative session after senate bill 5 sb5, restricting abortion access, failed to pass in the previous session, largely due to senator davis filibuster photo by john andersonthe austin chroniclegetty images
John Anderson - Getty Images

After her tenure at Planned Parenthood, Richards founded the feminist organization Supermajority, which trains and mobilizes people to advocate for women’s equality.

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Just before Republicans overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, removing abortion from its status as a constitutionally protected right in the United States, Richards wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times: “If I have one regret from my time leading Planned Parenthood, it is that we believed that providing vital health care, with public opinion on our side, would be enough to overcome the political onslaught.” She added that Republicans had chosen to trade “the rights of women for political expediency.”

After the fall of Roe v. Wade, Richards helped launch Abortion in America, a website where people can find information about where and how to terminate their pregnancies, and share stories about their experiences. She was also a co-chair at American Bridge, a liberal research, tracking, and rapid response operation “focused on holding Republicans accountable and helping deliver Democratic victories.”

In November 2024, following Donald Trump’s second presidential win, Richards admitted she saw a long road ahead in our fight for women’s reproductive rights. “In all honesty, I fear it will take us a long time to restore the rights we once had,” she told The 19th. “For people who face challenges based on race, geography, income, and more, these inequities are deep-seated, intersectional and much more difficult to eradicate. We need to be ready for a multi-year fight.”

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