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Report: Texan Cecile Richards To Step Down As Planned Parenthood President

Marjorie Kamys Cotera
Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards speaks to reporters at a Hillary Clinton campaign office in Austin on Sept. 9, 2016.

Cecile Richards, a Texas native and the longtime president of Planned Parenthood, plans to step down, according to a Wednesdayreport from Buzzfeed News.

Richards, who has led the women’s health organization since 2006, is a Waco native and the daughter of former Texas Gov. Anne Richards, a Democrat who held the office from 1991 to 1995.

Richards did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday afternoon. A spokesperson for the organization said that “Cecile plans to discuss 2018 and the next steps for Planned Parenthood’s future at the upcoming board meeting” next week.

The Buzzfeed report cited two anonymous sources, saying Richards has already notified some board members that she is moving on. 

As president, Richards has played a large role in upping the scale of Planned Parenthood’s fundraising efforts and political lobbying. Her work at the helm of the organization has often led her back to her home state, where she has fought legal battles with anti-abortion Republican state leaders who sought to defund the organization's women's health clinics. In 2011, she visited the TexasCapitolto decry “legislative assaults” against Planned Parenthood. She also came to Texas in 2016 to campaign for Hillary Clinton.

In an appearance at The Texas Tribune Festival last fall, she spoke about her work protecting women’s access to health care under the Donald Trump administration.

Richards is the founder of the Texas Freedom Network, a left-leaning nonprofit group, and the former president of America Votes. 

Disclosure: Planned Parenthood has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

The Texas Tribune provided this story.

Emma Platoff is a breaking news reporter at The Texas Tribune. She previously worked at the Tribune as a reporting fellow and is a recent graduate of Yale University, where she studied English literature and nonfiction writing. She has also worked as the managing editor of the Yale Daily News and as an intern at The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Hartford Courant.