Cecile Richards

Some Lesser Known Facts About Cecile Richards

• Cecile Richards grew up in Dallas and Austin, Texas.

  

• Her parents divorced in 1985.

• Her father, David Richards, was a lawyer who worked on cases for civil rights, newspapers, and labour unions. He won important cases such as voting rights that reached the Supreme Court.

• When Cecile Richards was in ninth standard in high school, she was called to the principal’s office to organize a black armband protest against the Vietnam War.

  

• Richards’ parents were involved in political activism from her early years.

• When she was 13 years old, she was made an honorary page for the 62nd Texas State Legislature in January 1971.

• When Cecile Richards was 16 years old, she, along with her mother, campaigned for Sarah Weddington, the lawyer who won Roe v. Wade, in her contest for the Texas state legislature.

• When she was at Brown University, she joined student activist movements and urged the university to stop investing in companies involved in apartheid, a system of legalized racial segregation in South Africa.

• After completing her college studies, Cecile Richards worked as a labour organizer. She led many union campaigns for garment workers, nursing home staff, and janitors in several states.

• When she was 30 years old, she returned to Texas to help her mother’s campaign for governor.

• Her mother was an American politician and activist who served as the governor of Texas from 1991 to 1995.

• In 1996, Cecile Richards founded the Texas Freedom Network. It works to counter the activities of the Christian right (known as the religious right in the United States).

• She then served on the advisory board of Let America Vote, an organization fighting voter suppression. This organisation was founded by former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander.

• In 2003, Cecile Richards contributed an essay titled ‘Combating the Religious Right’ to an anthology named Sisterhood Is Forever: The Women’s Anthology for a New Millennium, which was edited by Robin Morgan.

• From 2006 to 2018, she worked at the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund and became a national figure.

• Cecile Richards fought for women’s reproductive rights and faced strong opposition.

• Her leadership at Planned Parenthood became the second-longest tenure in its history, and she brought huge awareness to the cause during this period.

• In 2008, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund endorsed Barack Obama for president and made its second involvement in presidential politics.

  

• From 2010 to 2022, Cecile Richards worked as a board member and trustee of the Ford Foundation, a global private foundation, which focused on improving human welfare.

• During her stint at the Ford Foundation, she contributed her wisdom, skills, and determination to support the foundation’s mission, which included protecting democratic values, institutions, human dignity, and rights during challenging times.

• Cecile Richards then co-founded America Votes and served as its president. This was a 501(c)4 organization that worked to coordinate and promote progressive issues.

• She had worked as a deputy chief of staff to Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader in the U.S. House of Representatives.
• Cecile Richards then worked at the Turner Foundation.

• In 2013, when Texas lawmakers proposed a bill with multiple abortion restrictions, Richards joined protesters at the state Capitol. She encouraged them to make enough noise to disrupt legislative proceedings.

• The protest succeeded temporarily, as the noise prevented the bill from being passed before the midnight deadline, an event captured on a viral livestream by The Texas Tribune.

• In 2016, it made its first-ever primary endorsement and backed Hillary Clinton, a strong advocate for reproductive rights.

• Cecile Richards stated that these decisions were not biased toward a particular person but it was about supporting leaders who prioritized reproductive rights.

  

• During her time as president of Planned Parenthood, significant changes occurred in abortion rights in the U.S. In 2017, President Donald Trump signed a bill which allowed states to withhold federal funds from providers like Planned Parenthood.

• Cecile Richards stepped down as president of Planned Parenthood in 2018 and was succeeded by Leana Wen.

  

• In 2018, she was appointed to the Board of Trustees at The JPB Foundation.

• In 2018, Cecile Richards published her memoir Make Trouble: Standing Up, Speaking Out, and Finding the Courage to Lead, which covers her upbringing and career.

  

• After leaving Planned Parenthood, she started working with Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, and Ai-jen Poo, director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. They started a political action group called Supermajority in April 2019.

• Supermajority was created to focus on women’s activism and equality. It aimed at educating and training women to promote women’s political agenda for the 2020 elections.

• The group also aimed to promote a ‘Women’s New Deal, which focused on issues like voting rights, gun control, paid family leave, and equal pay.

• Cecile Richards stated that the goal was to leverage the influence of women, who make up 54% of voters, to prioritize issues they care about and elect a president committed to handling them.

• Her eldest child, Lily Adams, has worked as press secretary for Tim Kaine, a communications advisor for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, and as communications director for Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign.

• In November 2024, two months before her passing, President Joe Biden awarded Cecile Richards the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honour in the U.S.

  

• She helped launch Abortion in America, a website sharing stories of people who sought abortions after the fall of Roe v. Wade. She also helped in creating Charley, a chatbot providing information on accessing abortion services.

• Cecile Richards had served as a co-chairman at American Bridge, an opposition research hub for the Democratic Party.

• She and her husband lived in Manhattan.

• Cecile Richards was an animal lover and had a pet dog named Ollie. She often shared pictures of her pet on social media.