One in five women in America have been to a Planned Parenthood health center, and there is a health center in every state, said Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, during the 2017 National Public Health Week closing keynote and Edward N. Brandt Memorial Lecture earlier this month.
Her lecture commemorated the 100-year anniversary of Planned Parenthood and discussed where the organization is headed. She talked about the record-breaking support and engagement that Planned Parenthood has received in the last few months and how the women’s marches across the globe on January 21 showed a common thread of protecting women's rights. “We don’t care where you come from, you deserve access to health care,” Richards said of Planned Parenthood's mission to serve people of all backgrounds.
Richards spoke about the wide array of resources provided by Planned Parenthood, which, despite common belief, does not strictly perform abortions. And, the abortions they do perform, don’t come from government funding, she said.
Her best moment while serving as president of Planned Parenthood so far? The day former President Barack Obama called her to say that women no longer would be charged co-payments by insurance companies for birth control. After a long battle, it was such a rewarding feeling, she said.
Meanwhile, in our current political climate, there's a lot of work to be done. The Trump administration has been rolling back progress made over the last 100 years, and Richards noted that if the Trump administration passes legislation making abortions illegal, it will not end abortions, but rather increase the number of unsafe abortions. She appealed to all the public health students in the audience and said that it’s the role of the public health community to talk about the impact of putting politics ahead of health care. “We all have to do more than we ever imagined," she said. "Thanks for committing your life to public health, and here’s to the work ahead.”
Co-presidents of the Public Health Student Association, Zannah Herridge-Meyer and Rachel Gunsalus, who coordinated the event, were inspired by Richards' address and and said it was a good reminder of the progress that has been made for women’s health. “As public health advocates, it is our responsibility to be informed on policies and programs that impact health and act towards alleviating inequity and promoting health across the population,” they said.