Planned Parenthood's president is preparing for the worst

Cecile Richards.
(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

In an interview published Monday morning, Planned Parenthood's president Cecile Richards admitted to BuzzFeed News that she is uncertain what lies ahead for the organization under the Trump administration. "The truth is, no one really knows what will make a difference anymore," Richards said, after a draft of the House Republican proposal to repeal ObamaCare leaked last week that called for a complete defunding of Planned Parenthood.

BuzzFeed News reports that under the leaked proposal, the low-income women who make up roughly 60 percent of Planned Parenthood's 2.5 million patients would no longer be able to receive non-abortion health care. The organization currently relies on more than $500 million in federal funding to provide services nationwide including STI tests, birth control, and cancer screenings to women in need. While Richards said her organization won't go down without a fight, she told BuzzFeed News that "there's no way to overstate what a health-care crisis this would be for women" if Planned Parenthood were to lose that funding.

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Sarah Weldon

Sarah is a web intern at The Week and currently finishing up her studies in journalism and literature at Sarah Lawrence College. Her writing has appeared in NYLON and The Village Voice, among others. You can check out every meme she retweets @sarahfweldon.