Cecile Richards, the former president of Planned Parenthood and a staunch advocate for abortion and women’s rights, has passed away. She was 67.
Richards, who led the nonprofit organization for 12 years, had struggled with a brain cancer diagnosis, which she revealed on social media in January 2024. Though her battle with cancer prompted her to take a step back from her advocacy work, she persisted to push forward on abortion rights, writing on Instagram, “I believe, as I always have, that activism, organizing and troublemaking are a great way to spend your one wild and precious life.”
“We are heartbroken to lose the indomitable force that is our former president, Cecile Richards,” the organization wrote while announcing her passing on social media Monday. “In her 12 devoted years of service to our org, she brought us to new heights in our health care, education and advocacy work. She was the embodiment of ‘Care, no matter what.’”
“As the reproductive freedom movement navigates unchartered territory, we know Cecile would tell us the best way to honor her memory is to suit up (in pink!), link arms, and fight like hell for the health and rights of all people,” the Planned Parenthood post continued.
We are heartbroken to lose the indomitable force that is our former president, Cecile Richards. In her 12 devoted years of service to our org, she brought us to new heights in our health care, education, and advocacy work.
— Planned Parenthood (@PPFA) January 20, 2025
She was the embodiment of “Care, no matter what.” https://t.co/4SiosVpba8
Richards spearheaded the organization from 2006 to 2018, navigating reproductive rights through presidencies of George W. Bush as well as the first presidency of Donald Trump, leading up to Roe v. Wade being overturned in 2022.
Richards confronted this reality months before Roe v. Wade was overturned in a New York Times guest essay titled, “The One Regret From My Time Leading Planned Parenthood.” In the essay, Richards outlined her regret that believing “that providing vital health care, with public opinion on our side, would be enough to overcome the political onslaught,” adding that she underestimated the “callousness of the Republican Party and its willingness to trade off the rights of women for political expediency.”
With news of Richards’ passing coming just hours before Trump was sworn in for his second presidency, her parting words ring more relevant than ever.
“The erosion of reproductive rights is a result of raw, bare-knuckled politics, of a minority exercising its power over a majority,” she wrote. “It’s going to take unprecedented levels of political activism to fight back. If Republicans are going to push their extreme agenda, we must make sure they have to answer for it where it counts: at the ballot box.”
