Cecile Richards, a feminist activist and former president of Planned Parenthood, died Monday after battling cancer, her family said. Richards was 67.
“This morning our beloved Cecile passed away at home, surrounded by her family and her ever-loyal dog, Ollie. Our hearts are broken today but no words can do justice to the joy she brought to our lives,” read a statement attributed to Richards’ husband, Kirk Adams, and their three children, which CBS News obtained. “We are grateful to the doctors and health care workers who provided her excellent care and the friends, family, and well-wishers who have been by her side during this challenging time.”
The family asked those looking to honor Richards’ life and legacy to recall a sentiment that, according to them, she repeated often over the last year.
“It’s not hard to imagine future generations one day asking: ‘When there was so much at stake for our country, what did you do?’ The only acceptable answer is: ‘Everything we could,'” the statement quoted her as saying.
A longstanding champion of women’s rights, Texas-born Richards will be remembered as one of the United States’ most prominent advocates for abortion access in recent decades, who steered Planned Parenthood from 2006 to 2018. She repeatedly defended the organization and its mission against mounting attacks from political opponents, including President-elect Donald Trump, whose pledge to overturn the landmark abortion rights decision Roe v. Wade was central to his first presidential campaign.
Richards was diagnosed in 2023 with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. She initially shared the news in an interview with The Cut, published last January.
“The last six months have been wild – but thanks to incredible health care providers and the support of family and friends, I’m doing really well,” Richards wrote in a social media post at the time. “I’ve felt lucky all my life, and I feel lucky now: to be here, doing this work, alongside all of you.”
After stepping down as president of Planned Parenthood, Richards went on to found a new political action group, called Supermajority, alongside Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza and National Domestic Workers Alliance director Ai-jen Poo. The group focuses on encouraging women to become politically active, with the aim of empowering them as a voting bloc.
Richards’ work earned her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in November, the latest in a number of accolades she received throughout her career. TIME magazine named her among the 100 most influential people in the world in 2012.
