Program Directory

 
City Club of Cleveland - Planned Parenthood Action Fund
City Club of Cleveland
 
 
 
Cecile Richards, a lifelong advocate for reproductive freedom and social justice, will discuss how the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, advocacy arm of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, will mobilize their grassroots network and expand their political reach over the next 18 months to elect a pro-choice president in 2008.

In the 2006 midterm elections, Planned Parenthood played a central role in defeating anti-choice policies and politicians, and reproductive health care looks to be one of the major issues in the 2008 election. Planned Parenthood plans to motivate supporters to vote for a pro-prevention health care agenda, which includes access to affordable birth control, including emergency contraception, and expanding family planning services and medically accurate sex education.

Prior to Planned Parenthood, Richards served as founder and president of America Votes, a coalition of more than 30 national organizations that raised and spent more than $350 million to maximize voter registration, education, and mobilization among grassroots organizations in 2004.

Richards, the daughter of the late Texas Governor Ann Richards, also served as deputy chief of staff for House member and Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, where she played a key role in her election as the first female Democratic leader of the House of Representatives. She began her career organizing low-wage garment workers on the Rio Grande border in Texas, and she took a role in directing the successful "Justice for Janitors" campaign in Los Angeles.
July 16, 2007