The New York Times says departing Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards appeared “reserved” during an interview when asked questions about “abortion,” preferring instead to focus on “women’s health.”
The observation suggests what pro-life activists have been saying for years: that Richards and her organization know most Americans do not support abortion-on-demand, and have attempted instead to manipulate the public with phrases such as “women’s health” and “reproductive justice.”
A newly released Marist poll finds that 76 percent of Americans favor restricting abortion to – at most – the first three months of pregnancy.
After 12 years, I will be stepping down from my position as president of Planned Parenthood this year. pic.twitter.com/L6ttLDjyS1
— Cecile Richards (@CecileRichards) January 26, 2018
The Times report comes as Richards has announced her decision to step down as president of the nation’s largest provider of abortions:
She seemed more reserved about using the word abortion, masterfully pivoting to phrases like “women’s health” and “reproductive medicine” when a reporter brought them up.
Ms. Richards does see progress in the way abortion is depicted in popular culture, with Kerry Washington’s sexy Washington fixer Olivia Pope on the hit drama “Scandal” undergoing the procedure and articles in Cosmopolitan, Glamour and Essence discussing the issue.
“It’s about changing our culture and talking about topics that I thought had been shoved to the side and taboo,” she said.
In a video message to Planned Parenthood supporters about her departure, Richards describes the last year as “one of the most inspiring” of her life, apparently due to Planned Parenthood’s leadership role in the women’s anti-Trump march. Richards notes some of her organization’s followers have become community organizers of similar marches in their own areas.
The past year, however, saw the U.S. Department of Justice launching an investigation into Planned Parenthood following allegations the organization profits from the sale of baby body parts harvested during abortions.
Through generations of struggle and change, we've been driven by one simple, radical notion: No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her own body.
— Cecile Richards (@CecileRichards) January 26, 2018
Additionally, Planned Parenthood’s own annual report, released earlier this month, shows the organization continues to perform over 320,000 abortions per year while it boosted its profits in 2016-2017 by $21 million – or 27 percent – from the previous year. The group also took in nearly $544 million in taxpayer funding, though the number of many of its non-abortion services has significantly declined.
“Under the leadership of Cecile Richards, Planned Parenthood has grown to push one agenda – abortion above all else – while throwing aside any inkling of actual medical care,” Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America, said in a statement sent to Breitbart News.
I'm so proud of what we've accomplished together—in the past year alone, we've defeated three “defund” attempts and helped build a movement that has led to a record-number of women running for office.
— Cecile Richards (@CecileRichards) January 26, 2018
Despite Richards’ instinct to refrain from using the word “abortion,” her organization’s laser focus on women’s “right” to the procedure made headlines last week when Planned Parenthood condemned the House’s approval of a bill that would require abortionists to immediately provide emergency medical care to an infant born alive during an abortion.
Nance also observes that during Richards’ tenure, Planned Parenthood “has been exposed for refusing to report statutory rape and abuse, for aiding sex traffickers, for taking money to abort black babies.”
Richards also takes credit for “the historically low teen-pregnancy rate and a 30-year low for unintended pregnancies overall,” says the Times.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), however, the proportion of teens who have ever had sexual intercourse has been steadily decreasing since 1995.
“The decreases in sexual intercourse by grade suggest that fewer students are having sexual intercourse during the earlier years of high school,” says the CDC report. “This finding is especially encouraging.”
The data complement research that also shows a historic drop in teen pregnancy rates since 1991.
Nance suggests that, with Richards’ departure, Planned Parenthood has an opportunity to change its focus:
If Planned Parenthood is serious about standing up for the women they claim to represent, they will hire someone who understands medicine and accepts the facts that abortion does not help women but only inflicts harm and destruction. This is their chance to turn the organization around for the good and actually help women, instead of constantly telling them they cannot fulfill their dreams without abortion.
Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins agrees, stating that Richards leaves a legacy of “broken lives in her wake.”
“Her departure is evidence of the collapsing abortion industry, whose ugly reality was revealed in the horrific Center for Medical Progress undercover videos in which ghoulish Planned Parenthood workers and vendors gloated about the money they were making,” she said. “Pregnancy is not a disease cured by abortion. Yet Richards has deceived the American people about the harmful impacts of abortion and the ugly realities of the predatory industry that she leads. Thankfully their own reports show that Planned Parenthood is losing patients.”
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