ICYMI: Cecile Richards on CNN New Day: Hillary Clinton is “going to change what women and girls believe they’re capable of.”
For Immediate Release: July 27, 2016
ICYMI: Cecile Richards on CNNNew Day: Hillary Clinton is “going to change what women and girls believe they’re capable of.”
“Look at everything that Hillary Clinton has done her entire lifetime: long before she was in public office, as First Lady, fighting for children's health insurance program. Certainly as United States Senator, she introduced eight separate bills to expand women's health care, introduced equal pay. And of course, Tim Kaine has been a champion his entire lifetime.”
“This goes way beyond gender. These issues appeal not only to women voters, but to men as well.”
“All of us are so proud that Hillary has done this. And that it is actually going to change what women and girls believe they're capable of. Not only in the United States, but around the globe.
“This is not a partisan issue. This should be a celebration across the country that finally, a woman will be nominee of her party come November.”
You can watch the clip of Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Cecile Richards here, and the full transcript below. Last night, Richards addressed the Democratic National Convention – remarks are posted on Medium here and you can watch it here.
New Day transcript:
CNN: That's Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood speaking last night. She gave a ringing endorsement of Hillary Clinton. She is making the case for why a Clinton presidency will champion women's reproductive rights and health care. And Cecile Richards joins us now. Good morning, great to have you here.
Cecile: Good to be here.
CNN: Last night, you made the case, and you said, I think you went so far to say that, you believe this ticket of Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine will be more committed to women's health than any other team before.Is that because she is a woman?
Cecile: Absolutely not. You look at everything that Hillary Clinton has done her entire lifetime, long before she was in public office, as First Lady, fighting for children's health insurance program, certainly as United States Senator, she introduced eight separate bills to expand women's access to health care,she introduced equal pay and of course, Tim Kaine has been a champion his entire lifetime. This goes way beyond gender. And again I think these issues appeal not only to women voters, but to men as well.
CNN: You've got issues in-house and you’ve got issues out of house in terms of the opposition from the Republican party. In-house, Tim Kaine. One of the things that's listed, he’s a man of faith, strong Catholic. Along with that faith, goes an intended belief about abortion. How do you deal with that? Because that would put him on the other side of your policy position?
Cecile: Well, he has been very clear that his own personal opinions don't relate to policy. And in fact, as Senator, he has had a 100% rating with the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. He has been a champion for Planned Parenthood. And I think it is important to draw the contrast. You see on the other side, Mike Pence, who basically has made his whole political career out of attacking Planned Parenthood, trying to defund Planned Parenthood. They've now put that into the Republican party platform. There could not be a starker difference.
CNN: How so? What do you think they put in their platform that's dangerous for you?
Cecile: For the very first time, they’ve actually put in the party platform that the Republican's party position is they want to end access for women to Planned Parenthood. This is the first time that's ever happened. And that means ending access for women to birth control, to cancer screenings. For many women, Planned Parenthood is their only health care provider, and the Republican party says if we’re elected, if Trump and Pence are elected, we're going to take that away from you.
CNN: The counter argument is, why should government pay for that? If you want those types of services, which again they define much more narrowly than you do, they say if you want an abortion you go pay for it. The government's not going to pay for that.
Cecile: Of course the government doesn't pay for it. So in fact the Republican platform has nothing to do with that. The Republican platform is saying if you're a low-income woman in the state of Texas and you need a cancer exam, you can't go to Planned Parenthood for that, sheerly for political purposes. And look, Planned Parenthood operates just like all other health care providers. We get reimbursed for the care we provide, and 2.5 million people voluntarily come to us every year. The Republicans are saying, This issue we've made so political that we now want to get between women and their doctors and their clinicians. Frankly, that's not where the American people are. One in five women in America have been to Planned Parenthood for health care in their lifetime. That's what I -- they have made, the Republicans have now made, this a voting issue. And I think it will be a voting issue this November.
CNN: When you heard Donald Trump say in an interview that women who get abortions should be punished, he later came out and tried to sort of change or massage that message, but when you heard that what happened in the halls of Planned Parenthood when he made that statement?
Cecile: Well I think not just at Planned Parenthood, but across the country, it shows a worldview that Donald Trump has about women. Obviously he has said very demeaning things about women, calling them pigs. He obviously does not believe that women should have equal rights. And I think the Republican party platform shows that. The important thing to me is that women across America need to know the positions that Donald Trump has taken. Not only ending access to Planned Parenthood, he said he is going to appoint justices that would end Roe v. Wade, a whole host of policy issues that would take women back to the 1950s.
CNN: We're talking here policy, it matters. But this is a personal moment as well. You have a moment in history that should be non-partisan. Your mom, Ann Richards, hero within the party to be sure. What do you think her response would have been to having a woman nominated as the party’s representative to be nominated to be President of the United States?
Cecile: Everyone in the hall last night could feel all the women that we stand on the shoulders of. That is certainly including my mother. You know, I think there was nothing that gave my mother greater pride than the success of other women. She knew Hillary Clinton. She worked side by side with her on a host of issues that helped women and families in this country getting access to health care. I know she was there in spirit, and I think all of us are so proud that Hillary has done this. And that it is actually going to change what women and girls believe they're capable of. Not only in the United States, but around the globe. And I do believe, as you say, Chris, this is not a partisan issue. This should be a celebration across the country that finally, a woman will be a nominee of her party come November.
CNN: Cecile Richards, thanks so much for being on "New Day."
Cecile: Great to be here this morning. Thanks.