Cecile Richards death marks the end of an era
She was 67 years old. She was 67 years old. It was the height of Tea Party dominance within the Republican Party, which was a precursor to the MAGA-fication that is happening today. She was intelligent and frustrating to interview, but she was also kind. Richards was one of the few national leaders who could be both steadfast and gracious in their advocacy. Donald Trump was sworn in as president for a second term. The nation is now awash with the authoritarian flood that was first envisioned in the early Tea Party era and enabled in part by the Supreme Court’s decision to reverse Roe v. Wade. Texas and Georgia have implemented abortion bans that are having deadly consequences. We are now closer to a nationwide abortion ban than ever before, thanks to Republican victories in the past election cycle. The 2016 image of Richards hand raised triumphantly with then-NARAL President Ilyse Hogue outside the Supreme Court is an artifact of an entirely different political reality, one we may not see again for generations.
We are in fundamentally different times.
Navigating this new era will take equal parts grit and joy, a formula I learned was foundational to how Richards approached both her work and her life.
That’s what should carry forward in the work ahead. That’s the bridge Richards gave between her era and this one: grit and joy.
CORRECTION
: Ilyse Hogue’s name was misspelled in an earlier version of this story.
