Cecile Richards Quotes
So why are we having to fight in 2012 against politicians who want to end access to birth control? It's like we woke up in a bad episode of 'Mad Men.'
Richards, Cecile. "Remarks to the Democratic National Convention." Democratic National Convention, 4 Sept. 2012, Time Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte, NC. Speech.
The action referred to the President’s Executive Order Banning U. S. funds going to any organization which distributes information about abortion even if they pay for it with their own funds. Such an action in the United States would have been unconstitutional but foreigners are not entitled to Constitutional protection unless they are in the United States.
A Woman’s Concern like many other anti-abortion groups are also morally opposed to birth control of all kinds except celibacy or the “rhythm method” which is not particularly effective. He was appointed by the George W. Bush administration after vigorous lobbying by some of the extreme right wing religious groups who wanted birth control such as pills, IUDs or condoms to be made illegal. These proposals did not get much public support as the vast majority of Americans including a majority of Catholics use birth control methods that this man would have criminalized. His claims about the negative effects of birth control had no scientific bases whatsoever. As a physician, he had been warned by the Medical Association for the improper practice of medicine. He had to resign his government position.
The American Catholic Bishops wanted the right of religious organizations who ran civil institutions like hospitals or universities to deny its female employees any insurance coverage for birth control while paying for Viagra for males. Artificial birth control methods were considered immoral by the Roman Catholic Church. The Bishops did not feel that their institutions should be required to follow the civil law if their religious precepts opposed it. Quinn observed that 99% of women in America use birth control and even 98% of Catholic women did. This is a wonderful example of how subtle a basic principle like separation of church and state can be. The churches themselves did not have to pay for birth control insurance, but other Catholic-related entities did. How far would the bishops take their view. If a spaghetti factory were owned by a Catholic Church, would it have to insure birth control like other spaghetti factories? What about if the factory were a public company and the church owned all the stock? Most of the stock? Part of the stock? There are no clear and simple answers to these questions.
Cecile Richards is an American activist who served as the president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund from 2006 to 2018. In 2010, Richards was elected to the Ford Foundation board of trustees. In spring 2019, Richards co-founded Supermajority, a women's political action group.
