The Leadership Conference Statement on the Passing of Cecile Richards

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Patrick McNeil, [email protected] 

WASHINGTON — Maya Wiley, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement on the passing of Cecile Richards:

“The Leadership Conference is deeply saddened by the passing of Cecile Richards, former president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund and a dear friend to our civil and human rights coalition. It was under Cecile’s leadership that Planned Parenthood joined The Leadership Conference coalition as we fought together as a unified civil and human rights community to protect health care access, defend and expand voting rights, advocate for fair courts, and ensure communities across the nation were treated with the dignity they deserve. Cecile’s visionary advocacy efforts for expanded health care access — including access to abortion — and reproductive freedom were profoundly important for so many people, and she led significant nationwide campaigns to preserve patients’ access to preventive health care at Planned Parenthood health centers through federal programs. Her legacy inspires us to face the renewed attacks on the fundamental rights to healthy reproductive lives she protected. That means working to protect Planned Parenthood’s funding, fighting every day for reproductive health and freedom, and recommitting ourselves to the fight for abortion rights nationwide. And we will do all of this drawing from her deep well of wisdom and with a commitment to ensuring her legacy endures.

“Above all else, Cecile was passionate and kind-hearted. She showed up for our freedoms, for our democracy, and for patients across the country every day, and she always worked alongside our coalition to fight for justice and equality — no matter what and no matter when. Right out of college, she became a union organizer working with garment workers in south Texas, with nursing home workers in east Texas, and on the justice for janitors campaign in Los Angeles. And she never stopped this critical work on behalf of communities and the rights and protections they deserved.

“Cecile was a tremendous coalition partner and incredibly committed to both civil and human rights and to working in coalition to secure freedoms and improve the lives of our communities. When she received The Leadership Conference’s Hubert H. Humphrey Civil and Human Rights Award in 2018, she noted that ‘If The Leadership Conference didn’t exist we would all have to now create it — because it’s the most important place that we all come together and fight for the things we believe in.’ Cecile’s belief in solidarity across communities and unity in our actions was unwavering, and her leadership and partnership were indispensable. That night, she also remarked that ‘As Dr. King reminded us, the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. And together we are unstoppable.’ As we send our condolences to Cecile’s family and loved ones on this day commemorating Dr. King, we are committed to fulfilling her declaration that we are indeed unstoppable — and we fight on in her honor to defend the rights and freedoms she dedicated her life to securing.”

Cecile Richards was a recipient of The Leadership Conference’s Hubert H. Humphrey Civil and Human Rights Award in 2018. A video of her being honored is available here.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 240 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.

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