Cécile Richards, former president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and one of the country’s best-known abortion rights advocates, died Monday. She was 67 years old.
Ms. Richards was diagnosed with glioblastoma in 2023, a type of brain tumor. She died at home, her family said in a statement. A former political organizer, Ms. Richards was the daughter of former Governor Ann Richards of Texas.
Ms. Richards served as president of Planned Parenthood from 2006 to 2018, overseeing the nation’s largest provider of reproductive health care and sex education during a period when the care it offered was most under attack — under President George W. . Bush and again under the president. Donald J. Trump. She helped fend off a wave of attempts by Republican-controlled state legislatures to pass laws to restrict access or cut funding.
“If I have one regret from my time leading Planned Parenthood, it’s that we believed that providing lifesaving health care, with public opinion on our side, would be enough to overcome the political onslaught.” , Ms. Richards wrote in an essay in The New York Times in 2022. “I underestimated the insensitivity of the Republican Party and its willingness to sacrifice women’s rights for the sake of political expediency. »
Her latest project was called Abortion in America and focused on using TikTok and Instagram to spread abortion stories beyond traditional media.
“I’ve been very fortunate in my life to always be able to do work that was meaningful to me and to the people I care for,” she said in an interview with The Times last year. “Luck is a loaded word, but I feel really lucky.”
She wore a stack of friendship bracelets, one of which said: “Keep going. »
A full obituary will appear later.
Jessica Testa reports contributed.
