AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org,
The War and Peace Report.
I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, as we mark nearly one
year under President Trump, our next guest
says this may be the worst year for women
than in any other presidential administration
in history.
But, she notes, it’s also been a year of
organizing and resistance by women and their
allies.
AMY GOODMAN: For more, we continue our conversation
with Cecile Richards, president of the Planned
Parenthood Federation of America and the Planned
Parenthood Action Fund.
I want to start by asking you about the “Me
Too” movement.
You talk about movements and the power of—this
was started 10 years ago by Tarana Burke—
CECILE RICHARDS: Correct.
AMY GOODMAN: —who cared about sexual assault
and abuse, she herself a survivor, African-American
woman—we’ve had her on several times—talking
about how girls and women can take power.
And then you see what happens today.
It’s not only in the United States, it’s
coursed the globe.
Can you start there?
And then talk about the gains and, you feel,
the losses in this country in the last year.
CECILE RICHARDS: Well, I think one of—and
this movement is interesting.
I think there’s some parallels in the reproductive
health movement, in that for years women have
been ashamed of sharing their own stories,
including about abortion, abortion stories,
and it is only now that women are sharing
them on social media and that they’re being
covered in the news as actually part of women’s
healthcare, part of the—just what happens
in women’s lives, that I think we’re beginning
to erase some of the stigma.
And I think there are a lot of parallels.
Look, it’s been a year, Amy, of extraordinary
assault on women, on Planned Parenthood, on
women’s access to healthcare.
But, as I said earlier, I also—I have never
seen—I’ve been an organizer my entire
lifetime.
I have never seen the outpouring of activism,
not only by young women and young men, but
women who have never been involved in politics
or organizing before.
And I see that every single day, and not only
in New York and Washington and San Francisco,
but in Utah, in Michigan, in Wisconsin, places
where women are saying, “It’s our time.
It’s time for us to take a stand and to
actually be involved.”
It’s really exciting.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Could you talk about, during
the past year, some of the major wins and
losses that have occurred under the Trump
administration?
CECILE RICHARDS: Absolutely, absolutely.
Well, I remember, Juan, when, in January,
the speaker, Paul Ryan, said that by February
there would be a bill on President Trump’s
desk that would defund Planned Parenthood
and repeal the Affordable Care Act.
And here we are in December, and our doors
are still open all across the United States
of America, because we were able to beat that
back.
And it was not because people in Congress
suddenly saw the light.
It’s because, literally, the outpouring
of grassroots organizing across the country,
primarily from women—some estimates are
that 86 percent of the calls coming to Congress
were coming from women—and also because,
frankly, two Republican women—Susan Collins
and Lisa Murkowski—bucked their party, stood
up for Planned Parenthood and against the
repeal of women’s reproductive rights and
access to Planned Parenthood.
But it’s tenuous.
I mean, that was a huge victory.
But I know, going into 2018, we’re going
to be fighting it all over again.
AMY GOODMAN: You had Vice President Mike Pence
actually addressing what they call the March
for Life—
CECILE RICHARDS: Correct.
AMY GOODMAN: —January 22nd, that has been
going on since 1973, when the court ruled
in Roe v. Wade, making sure abortion was legal.
How significant was this?
I mean, when people are calling for the resignation
of President Trump, his impeachment, Mike
Pence is the vice president, who would be
president.
CECILE RICHARDS: No, absolutely.
And I—look, I think what’s important,
Amy, is that when we’ve had a chance to
actually have a public conversation and a
public fight, like over the defunding of Planned
Parenthood, we can win.
The danger is what this administration is
doing—and Vice President Mike Pence is the
orchestra master on this—of putting people
into places of authority that will now repeal
and take away women’s rights, where we have
actually no public discourse.
You can look at Health and Human Services
now.
It has been completely stocked with people
who are against not only Planned Parenthood,
not only against safe and legal abortion,
they’re against birth control now.
I mean, that’s what we’re seeing from
leaked memos from the White House.
They now want to take away family planning
money and redirect it to teaching women—
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And who, specifically, are
some of those people?
So that—
CECILE RICHARDS: Well, you can look at Teresa
Manning, who is the head of what’s called
the Title X.
It’s the national family planning program,
signed into law by a Republican president.
It serves 4 million women, mainly low-income
women, across the country.
She doesn’t even believe in birth control.
She’s not a supporter of contraception.
And what we’re seeing now is that they are
going to try to unravel a program that has
led to, I mean, two important victories to
me.
We have the lowest teen pregnancy in the history
of the United States of America and a 30-year
low for unintended pregnancy.
What I fear from this administration is they’re
now putting, of course, their politics ahead
of women’s health, and we’ll see those
rates begin to rise again.
AMY GOODMAN: And then you have the case of
Scott Lloyd.
Explain who he is and how he tried to weigh
in on a young immigrant woman, who—a teenager—
CECILE RICHARDS: Correct.
AMY GOODMAN: —who had gotten permission
to have an abortion in Texas.
CECILE RICHARDS: Correct.
AMY GOODMAN: He went down to Texas to try
to stop this from happening.
CECILE RICHARDS: No, and he is a perfect example
of the kind of folks that are being appointed
by this administration, that no one’s ever
heard of, no one ever knows.
But, yes, Jane Doe, in my home state of Texas,
had been apprehended at the border, put into
custody, found out that she was pregnant,
because, of course, so many young women who
are trying to make it across the border are
victims of sexual assault.
She did all the things that were necessary
to actually get permission for access to abortion,
which is very hard for a minor in the state
of Texas.
And then, yes, Scott Lloyd did everything
he could to try to prevent her from accessing
an abortion.
AMY GOODMAN: And he was the head of the Office
of Refugee Resettlement.
CECILE RICHARDS: Exactly.
And I would say this is the case we know about,
but this is something that’s actually happening
across the country to young women, who now
have absolutely no access to power.
And thank goodness for the ACLU and my colleagues
there, who were able to fight this case.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And what about the judgeships?
Some people would argue perhaps that Donald
Trump’s longest-lasting legacy will be his
appointments to the federal benches.
Could you talk about that, as well?
CECILE RICHARDS: No, absolutely.
I mean, in Planned Parenthood, we are now
litigating in five different district courts.
There are vacancies everywhere.
And because they have suspended the rules
in the United States Senate now, these nominees—lifetime
appointments to the federal bench—are now
running through.
In fact, we just had one yesterday.
They moved to cloture on someone who has been
basically said—unanimous decision by the
American Bar Association—completely unqualified,
who takes a position completely opposed to
reproductive rights.
Those are the kind of folks now who are being
appointed to and confirmed for lifetime appointments
to the federal bench.
And that—you’re right—is going to be
a legacy that decades of women are now going
to have to suffer under and endure.
AMY GOODMAN: We just got this word, that Merriam-Webster’s
Dictionary just named its word of the year
for 2017, “feminism.”
CECILE RICHARDS: It’s about time.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to ask you about Republican
Arizona Congressman Trent Franks, who suddenly,
last week, in the midst of other people announcing
their resignations, announced that he would
be resigning from the House of Representatives.
This came in the midst of this scandal that
a number of women in his office said he had
pressured them to bear his children, one woman
saying he had approached her at least four
times and offered her $5 million to carry
his child.
Can you talk about the significance of this?
Who is Trent Franks?
He is—among the things he has said is he
called President Obama the “enemy of humanity.”
CECILE RICHARDS: Yeah.
I mean, there is so much irony in the folks
who are now, of course, being exposed for
what they’ve done, because Trent Franks
is one of the most adamant anti-women’s
rights, anti-abortion members of the United
States House of Representatives.
And so, I think these—I mean, thank goodness
this story came out.
It is unimaginable what women have suffered
under Trent Franks.
I think this is only the tip of the iceberg.
We’re going to be seeing these stories come
out, I think, every week now.
AMY GOODMAN: I mean, we’ve seen a number
of women come out in these red cloaks at protests—
CECILE RICHARDS: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: —for Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s
Tale, that was made into a TV series.
You couldn’t help think about Gilead—
CECILE RICHARDS: That’s correct.
AMY GOODMAN: —and Handmaid’s Tale, when
hearing what had just taken place with Trent
Franks.
CECILE RICHARDS: No, it’s amazing.
I actually just got to present the lifetime
achievement award to Margaret Atwood, and
we were both remarking on the fact that now
everything that she has written is actually
coming true to life.
So, it’s unimaginable.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about Roy Moore
and his significance when it comes to both
sexual assault, acknowledging stories, and
what his record is on reproductive rights?
We talked about Doug Jones and his support
for abortion.
CECILE RICHARDS: Right.
Well, I mean, that’s the other disturbing
thing about Roy Moore, is even if you put
aside his own past and his sexual assault
past, his positions on women, on gay people,
on pretty much any group that’s been under
attack by this administration, that’s been
Roy Moore’s position.
He’s unqualified for all those reasons,
before we even get to his own personal—
AMY GOODMAN: When asking when America was
great again, he referred back to slavery times.
CECILE RICHARDS: It’s incredible.
And, I mean, this is where I think—one of
the things that has been so disturbing about
seeing what’s happened this year.
It’s one thing to have Donald Trump take
these extreme positions.
It’s another thing to have Roy Moore.
But to have Republicans in the United States
Senate and the United States Congress, who
actually know better, support this gentleman
coming to the Senate, I think it’s going
to be really important, if he wins today,
to see what position the United States senators
take on seating him in the Senate.
He is unqualified in every way.
And I think it’s going to be a stain on
their party.
And frankly, I saw today that President Trump’s
numbers are the lowest they’ve ever been
in polling.
I think that women are fed up.
AMY GOODMAN: And President Trump’s position
on Planned Parenthood?
Ever-changing?
CECILE RICHARDS: Well, I don’t think it’s
really changed.
I mean, he did, of course, during the—during
the presidential primary, he was the one Republican
who, I think in a moment of probably either
weakness or not really focus—focusing, said
that, of course, he knew many, many women
who have been helped by Planned Parenthood,
which, of course, all Republicans know, because
Republicans come to Planned Parenthood just
like everyone else.
But, of course, since he’s become president,
he has basically said he wants to block women
from coming to Planned Parenthood.
He has explicitly said—back to your question
about the judiciary, he has explicitly said
he will only appoint justices, not only to
the Supreme Court, but to these other federal
benches, that—the federal bench, that oppose
reproductive rights and access.
And, Amy, one of the, of course, deep concerns
for us at Planned Parenthood is, we’re the
largest provider of reproductive healthcare
in the country.
One in five women have come to us.
In many areas, we’re the only provider of
safe and legal abortion.
And the thing—one of the real disturbing
thoughts is now for women in the South—and
I was glad that, you know, Samantha was on—because
access to reproductive healthcare in the South,
including my home state of Texas, is getting
harder and harder, particularly for women
of low income and women of color.
AMY GOODMAN: And how—
CECILE RICHARDS: And under this administration,
it’s going to get worse.
AMY GOODMAN: And how legislation affects the
Affordable Care Act?
How that legislation, what they’re trying
to do to it, affects women and their access
to healthcare?
CECILE RICHARDS: Right.
I mean, repealing the Affordable Care Act
and blocking access to Planned Parenthood,
it wasn’t only that women couldn’t come
to us for family planning anymore or—and
that’s why we’ve been fighting it.
But they wanted to get rid of maternity benefits.
They want to get rid of prenatal care.
They want to get rid of women’s access to
birth control across the board.
And, of course, the first women who are going
to feel the brunt of this are women of low
income, who need access to healthcare the
very, very most.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, Cecile Richards, we want
to thank you so much for being with us, president
of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America
and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund.
This is Democracy Now!
When we come back, we’ll be joined by Luis
Gutiérrez.
He’s just announced he’s retiring—doesn’t
mean he won’t continue his actions.
He was just arrested last Wednesday around
immigration and fighting for a DREAM Act to
be passed by his U.S. Congress.
Stay with us.
