When an organization is a blatant human rights violater (like Planned Parenthood), it’s not difficult to be ironic. But as President of Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards has been particularly ironic this month. Take a look.
First off, Richards gave a retweet to something abortion clinic volunteer Emma Akpan wrote, accompanying her agreement with multi-hued hearts:
YES. ????? https://t.co/BMmJz0jcNw
— Cecile Richards (@CecileRichards) December 16, 2015
A4: Love each other. Protect the most marginalized. Listen when you are wrong. #ActNoMatterWhat
— Emma Akpan (@EmmaAkpanNC) December 16, 2015
With over 55 million preborn children whose lives have been taken in the last four decades (largely by Planned Parenthood), it should be easy to determine who the “most marginalized” are. (Here is a must-watch, totally non-graphic video on that.)
And yet, instead of protecting these children and listening when even science calls Planned Parenthood’s standards wrong, Richards pretends she supports protecting vulnerable humans. All the while, a Planned Parenthood graphic was being passed around Twitter by PP allies, proclaiming that PP is planning to focus on three things – abortion being one of them.
As one tweeter wrote:
@CecileRichards do u realize how ludicrous this is while killing innocent babies ?
— Warden4572 (@EdB4572) December 17, 2015
Richards doled out her advice to “every young activist,” but it didn’t meet with great approval on the Twittersphere:
@CecileRichards @PPGenAction One life to live? That's rich coming from the nation's busiest murdering organization. #DefundPP.
— Robin Lewis (@Dellapearl) December 17, 2015
Apparently that’s one life to live unless Planned Parenthood gets to you first – before you have the ability to use your one voice to stand up for your one life.
Richards also retweeted this from Planned Parenthood:
What happened to make the abortion debate so toxic? It wasn't always this way but money in politics had an influence https://t.co/BKCfsCpYvg
— Planned Parenthood (@PPact) December 21, 2015
It’s good to see Planned Parenthood/Richards passing around the idea that money in politics has made the abortion debate toxic, though they’re somehow attempting to avoid any responsibility in this toxicity at all. Did Richards miss the memo that multiple Planned Parenthood affiliates just got outed for exceeding allowable limits on political spending? Did she miss the recent public revelation of just how many millions Planned Parenthood (through its various arms) spends to get pro-abortion politicians elected?
It’s doubtful she missed it. It’s more likely she doesn’t actually mind the “influence” “money in politics” has.
Richard’s definition of a witch hunt is also rather ironic.
We're fighting against political witch hunts to make sure that abortion remains safe & legal https://t.co/CNxfVarlJv
— Cecile Richards (@CecileRichards) December 14, 2015
Note that this lawsuit Planned Parenthood filed stemmed from a discovery that its affiliates in Ohio were illegally dumping fetal remains in landfills. But naturally, making sure Planned Parenthood – or the abortion industry in general – complies with the law is a “witch hunt.” It’s amazing how often Richards believes Planned Parenthood is above the law, despite the millions in taxpayer funding her organization receives every year (a total of $1.5 billion in a mere three years).
Perhaps she missed the lesson on basic accountability and responsible stewardship. (Another apparent retraining need for Planned Parenthood staff.)
Another puzzling trend with Richards’ tweets (or retweets) in December was the wealth of them that came from Feministing. Feministing did co-host an online discussion of sorts about Planned Parenthood’s plan for the next year, but it was still rather odd to see this image of a clearly objectified woman all over Richard’s feed.
Q7: What is your vision for a more equal & just future? What does it look like to you? #ActNoMatterWhat
— Feministing (@feministing) December 16, 2015
It would seem a more “equal and just future” would include women not being painted and displayed like purple Barbies, but hey, maybe that’s just me. Coming from the president of an organization that lies to women about the scientific development of their babies, the availability of mammograms, and the dangers of abortion (even at clinics that had just sent women to the hospital), perhaps there should be no wincing at how Richards is featuring feminism: as a one-size-fits-all narrow objectification of women.
But I call foul. This, my friends, is a much better description of feminism, given by attorney Erika Bachiochi.
Finally, Richards gave three clapping hands to this interesting tweet:
— Cecile Richards (@CecileRichards) December 16, 2015
#ActNoMatterWhat A4: solidarity is good, showing up is better, sharing stories, and frankly calling the liars, liars – because, they are.
— Andy Kopsa (@andykopsa) December 16, 2015
It’s convenient Richards is such a fan of “calling the liars, liars – because, they are.” Feel free to check out 11 ways Richards lied to the American public in just one TV interview earlier this year. Perhaps you’d also be interested in examining how Richards gave a completely deceptive answer (code word, lie) to Congress earlier this year. She claimed Planned Parenthood does not abort viable babies, and yet, this is tragically far from true.
So yes, let’s call the liars, liars – because, by Richards’ own claim, “they are.”