Ten days before the 2016 election, I was standing in a cinderblock room in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with Cecile Richards and other leaders of prominent women’s groups, all of us out to make the case for Hillary Clinton’s historic run for President.

Richards was a major force in Texas and national politics. Like her mother, former governor Ann Richards, Cecile spent most of her life rallying for progressive causes. Richards was a labor organizer, a staffer to Representative Nancy Pelosi, and then president of Planned Parenthood from 2006 to 2018.

She oversaw the United States’ largest provider of reproductive health care and sex education from 2006 to 2018.

Cecile Richards, a women’s rights crusader who served as president of Planned Parenthood as the nation approached a critical inflection point over reproductive freedom, has died, her family said Monday in a statement.

A former Planned Parenthood president and staunch women's rights advocate Cecile Richards has died at the age of 67.

The former Planned Parenthood president and lifelong champion of women’s rights passed away Monday from brain cancer.

Cecile Richards, a longtime reproductive rights and feminist activist and former president of Planned Parenthood, has died, her family announced Monday. She was 67. Richards was diagnosed in 2023 with a glioblastoma, a type of brain tumor.

"Our hearts are broken today but no words can do justice to the joy she brought to our lives," her family said in a post on social media.

Cecile Richards, a national leader for women’s rights who led Planned Parenthood for 12 tumultuous years, has died

Cecile Richards, former Planned Parenthood president and progressive activist, died Jan. 20 after a battle with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. She was 67.

What her famous mother did as Texas governor, Cecile carried on by standing up a range of progressive and pro-choice organizations.