Cecile Richards, a feminist activist and previous president of Deliberate Parenthood, died Monday after fighting most cancers, her circle of relatives mentioned. Richards was once 67.
“This morning our loved Cecile gave up the ghost at house, surrounded by way of her circle of relatives and her ever-loyal canine, Ollie. Our hearts are damaged nowadays however no phrases can do justice to the enjoyment she dropped at our lives,” learn a remark attributed to Richards’ husband, Kirk Adams, and their 3 youngsters, which CBS Information bought. “We’re thankful to the docs and well being care employees who supplied her very good care and the chums, circle of relatives, and well-wishers who’ve been by way of her facet throughout this difficult time.”
The circle of relatives requested the ones having a look to honor Richards’ lifestyles and legacy to recall a sentiment that they mentioned she repeated ceaselessly during the last 12 months. “It isn’t laborious to consider long term generations in the future asking: ‘When there was once such a lot at stake for our nation, what did you do?’ The one appropriate solution is: ‘The whole lot lets,'” the remark quoted her as pronouncing.
A longstanding champion of ladies’s rights, Texas-born Richards shall be remembered as probably the most United States’ maximum distinguished advocates for abortion access in contemporary many years, who urged Deliberate Parenthood from 2006 to 2018. She many times defended the group and its venture towards mounting assaults from political combatants, together with President-elect Donald Trump, whose pledge to overturn the landmark abortion rights resolution Roe v. Wade was once central to his first presidential marketing campaign.
Richards was once recognized in 2023 with glioblastoma, an competitive type of mind most cancers. She to begin with shared the inside track in an interview with The Minimize, printed remaining January.
Erin Hooley / AP
“The remaining six months were wild — however due to improbable well being care suppliers and the strengthen of friends and family, I am doing in point of fact effectively,” Richards wrote in a social media publish on the time. “I have felt fortunate all my lifestyles, and I believe fortunate now: to be right here, doing this paintings, along all of you.”
After stepping down as president of Deliberate Parenthood, Richards went on to discovered a brand new political motion workforce, referred to as Supermajority, along Black Lives Topic co-founder Alicia Garza and Nationwide Home Staff Alliance director Ai-jen Poo. The gang makes a speciality of encouraging ladies to turn into politically energetic, with the purpose of empowering them as a balloting bloc.
Alexis McGill Johnson, Deliberate Parenthood’s present president and CEO, referred to as Richards “an indomitable drive” and praised her for lifting the group “to new heights” throughout her tenure in every other remark Monday.
“We’re heartbroken to lose a large within the battle for reproductive freedom. As we proceed to navigate uncharted territory, we will meet the demanding situations we are facing largely as a result of the motion Cecile constructed over many years,” Johnson mentioned. “I do know, undoubtedly, that Cecile would let us know one of the best ways to honor her reminiscence is to fit up — ideally in red — hyperlink palms, and battle like hell for Deliberate Parenthood sufferers around the nation.”
Richards’ paintings earned her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in November, including to the accolades she gained all the way through her occupation. TIME mag named her a few of the 100 maximum influential other people on the earth in 2012.
President Biden mentioned in a remark that he and primary woman Jill Biden have been “deeply saddened” by way of Richards’ dying, and described her as “a pace-setter of extreme persona” who adopted within the footsteps of her mom, former Texas Gov. Ann Richards, additionally a political activist.
“Cecile fearlessly led us ahead to be the The usa we are saying we’re,” Mr. Biden mentioned in a remark. “Wearing her mother’s torch for justice, she championed a few of our Country’s maximum essential civil rights reasons. She fought for the honour of employees, defended and complex ladies’s reproductive rights and equality, and mobilized our fellow American citizens to workout their energy to vote. She was once a pace-setter of extreme persona and I do know that her legacy will proceed to encourage generations to return.”
