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Cecil Richards has died after a battle with brain cancer.
The former president of Planned Parenthood died at 67 yesterday of brain cancer, her family said. Known for her decade-plus at the helm of the reproductive rights and health care organization, she was one of the U.S.’s fiercest advocates of abortion rights. The former labor organizer testified in front of Congress, fended off anti-abortion legislation and efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, and quadrupled the group’s base of supporters, volunteers, and donors.
Even as she battled the disease—and as the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision eliminated the national right to abortion—Richards still fought for abortion rights. First, the daughter of Texas Gov. Ann Richards left Planned Parenthood to fight to elect Democratic women with the group Supermajority. Then she founded the storytelling platform Abortion in America and helped launch a chatbot called Charley that aims to help people access accurate information about abortion availability.
The fight for abortion rights continues—and it will likely be a long road ahead. Richards said that her one regret from her decade atop the nation’s largest reproductive rights organization was not realizing that “providing vital health care, with public opinion on our side” would not be enough to fight “the callousness of the Republican Party and its willingness to trade off the rights of women for political expediency.”
Tributes to Richards have poured in since the announcement of her death, a testament to the impact she had, bigger than the political forces that won out in 2022. Kamala Harris released a statement honoring Richards—that turned out to be her last official statement as vice president. “She fought tirelessly on behalf of all women, and today millions across the nation benefit from her work,” Harris said.
