Planned Parenthood national president discusses protests, health care reform

Protesters lining Collins Road NE tonight were nothing more than a nuisance to Cecile Richards.

“They're not winning any converts with the harassment and uncivil behavior,” said Richards, who has become accustomed to protests in her four years as president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Richards, 52, is keynote speaker for tonight's 30th anniversary tribute dinner for Cedar Rapids-based Planned Parenthood of East Central Iowa.

The clinic does not provide abortions, but pro-life supporters holding signs with “Stop Abortion Now,” pictures of unborn fetuses and more, lined the road to the Cedar Rapids Marriott, where the dinner is taking place.

The anniversary coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Pill, a form of birth control that Richards said revolutionized opportunities for women.

“This tiny pill dramatically changed lives for women. You can look at any measurement,” she said, citing increasing numbers of women in law school, the workforce and elsewhere. “It completely transformed women's lives.”

Richards said she didn't think to ask her mother, the late Ann Richards, if she had ever used the Pill. Ann Richards, who was governor of Texas from 1991 to 1995, died in 2006.

Cecile Richards said she misses her mother's advice.

“There's not many adversities that she didn't face. She grew up poor in Waco, Texas, dealt with alcoholism, dealt with the pain of a divorce … and the rough and tumble world of politics,” she said, citing her defeat in the 1994 election by George W. Bush. “At the end of the day she just believed that women could be really resilient.”

Despite an increasing “fringe” element in America, which necessitated tight security for Richards and others attending the banquet, Richards said she sees a bright future ahead for Planned Parenthood.

Health care reform will open up opportunities for millions more women to have access to health care, she said.

Richards called health care reform a critical moment of opportunity to advocate family planning as basic preventative health care.

She noted that half of pregnancies in the United States are still unplanned and unintended and that one in four teen-age girls has a sexually transmitted disease.

Past policies that advocate abstinence only “just didn't work,” she said.

Using telemedicine for the “abortion pill” RU-486, or mifepristone, has been unfairly criticized, Richards said.

Iowa is the only state to offer the service, through Des Moines-based Planned Parenthood of the Heartland. Doctors use a remote camera and special pill dispenser to prescribe the drug for patients in rural areas.

Richards said that typically, women can take the drug at home, so the method is no different than having a doctor prescribe the drug in person.

Planned Parenthood of East Central Iowa, founded in 1980, serves about 4,500 people annually.

“When women come to our centers, they're not making a political statement,” Richards said. “They're in our centers because they need health care.