A memorial resolution set for vote ahead of the Easter holiday weekend honoring Cecile Richards, former president of Planned Parenthood and a Texas native, omitted any reference to abortion despite Richards’ leadership of the nation’s largest abortion services provider.
Texas House Resolution 236, introduced by Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, was intended as a tribute to Richards, who died of brain cancer on January 20 at age 67, as “one of the leading voices in the debate over reproductive health” during her time as president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), where, the resolution stated, she “valiantly upheld the importance of the organization’s services.”
HR 236 highlights Richards’ upbringing as the daughter of former Texas Gov. Ann Richards and civil rights attorney David Richards, her early activism, her career, including founding the Texas Freedom Network, serving as deputy chief of staff to Rep. Nancy Pelosi, as well as her involvement with PPFA. She served as PPFA president from 2006 to 2018 and is credited with expanding the abortion provider’s social and political influence.
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“Though it is impossible to gauge the full effect of one person’s life, some individuals leave their unmistakable mark on the world as they move through it, and the exceptional contributions of Cecile Richards will continue to resonate for years to come,” the resolution noted.
While the resolution noted Richards’ founding of Supermajority, a group advocating for more women to enter politics, and her receipt of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2024 from President Joe Biden, the resolution did not make a single reference to abortion.
During Richards’ tenure, PPFA performed a record 354,871 abortions in 2019 alone, according to its 2019-2020 annual report. By the end of her tenure, the number of abortions carried out each year by PPFA increased by almost 70,000, according to data cited by Mary Szoch, director of the Center for Human Dignity at Family Research Council, in a 2024 op-ed.
The resolution, part of a slate of memorials for deceased Texans, was withdrawn after intense debate, effectively halting tributes to others, including conservative activist Jill Glover and U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee. HR 236 was meant to pass quietly alongside tributes to Glover and Corey Comperatore, a father killed shielding his family during an attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
Instead, it drew condemnation from several Republicans, including Rep. Andy Hopper, R-Decatur, who said, “If you vote for this calendar, you are voting to honor a woman who is largely responsible for the extermination of millions of young Americans.”
Rep. Nate Schatzline, R-Fort Worth, called it a matter of conscience, urging colleagues to reject the measure. “A yes vote to this calendar today is to silence the voices of those who have no voice,” he said.
Rep. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington, framed the vote as a defense of the “defenseless,” saying, “What we’re doing is we’re forcing a record vote to remove this so that we can honor the 60-plus million innocent, unborn, defenseless children that were murdered in the U.S. The organization that did it, she was in charge of.”
Several Democratic lawmakers, including Rep. Ramon Romero, D-Fort Worth, and Rep. Ann Johnson, D-Houston, pushed back against the protests. But ultimately, the vote was sent back to the committee, where its future is uncertain.
During Richards’ time as president, PPFA became the subject of controversy when a series of undercover videos were released in 2015, purportedly showing employees and abortionists discussing the sale of aborted baby body parts, including hearts, lungs, liver, limbs and tissue.
Released online by the pro-life group Center for Medical Progress, the videos prompted several investigations into Planned Parenthood at the state and federal level, with Richards denying any wrongdoing.
In September 2015, before the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee, Richards testified that, contrary to the claims of herself, other pro-choice activists and politicians, Planned Parenthood clinics did not provide mammograms.
“There aren’t any Planned Parenthood clinics, I believe, to the best of my knowledge, not any have mammogram machines at their facilities,” responded Richards. “We have different kinds of arrangements with, depending on the state, to refer women for mammograms.”
