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October 4, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Former Planned Parenthood president and CEO Cecile Richards is back in the public spotlight, this time lending her name to the effort to oust pro-life Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
Fire Ted Cruz PAC (FTC PAC) released the minute-long video on Tuesday, in which the 12-year abortion industry chief urges Texans to replace Cruz with Democrat challenger Robert “Beto” O’Rourke.
“I was born in Waco, Texas, all my family lives in Texas, and I care about what happens to folks in Texas and particularly women in Texas,” begins Richards, who lives in New York City. As Planned Parenthood’s leader, she claims she “saw firsthand what happens when politicians put their own ideological agenda ahead of the health and well being of women and young people.”
“And frankly, that’s what Ted Cruz has done his entire political career,” Richards continues. “He’s been one of the leaders in the fight to defund Planned Parenthood and block access to affordable health care for thousands and thousands of women in Texas.”
What Richards cites as Cruz’s negatives are the very qualities pro-lifers like most about the former presidential candidate, however. He infamously urged his fellow Republicans to withhold funding for Obamacare and Planned Parenthood during the appropriations process rather than send pro-abortion budgets to Barack Obama,
He also impressed pro-lifers with stances such as opposing a rape exception for abortion, backing personhood initiatives, and challenging pro-abortion narratives such as the claim that videos exposing Planned Parenthood’s fetal organ harvesting activities were misleading or fabricated. During the 2016 Republican primary, Planned Parenthood identified Cruz as the “biggest threat we face.”
“We have a chance to really change the direction in Texas and elect a senator that cares about all Texans,” Richards concluded, alluding to O’Rourke. “And so I hope you’ll do whatever you can financially to support the effort to fire Ted Cruz.” The Planned Parenthood Action Fund and NARAL have both endorsed O’Rourke, who is campaigning on “access to safe and legal abortion services” as well as to “birth control and emergency contraception,” and on taxpayer funding of so-called “family planning centers” such as Planned Parenthood.
Led by Dallas trial lawyer Marc Stanley, FTC PAC has spent $15,000 so far to oust Cruz. The Daily Caller notes that its involvement in the race runs counter to O’Rourke’s public claims that he doesn’t want political action committees’ intervention.
Richards, who resigned in January and has been succeeded by Baltimore Health Commissioner Leana Wen, led a Planned Parenthood that pro-lifers say was far from the health champion her latest video suggests.
Richards presided over the abortions of an estimated 3.5 million preborn babies, and has consistently rejected any acknowledgement of their scientifically-established humanity. In 2014, she said the question of when life begins was not “really relevant” to discussing abortion, and this April she falsely claimed there was “no specific moment when life begins.”
Additionally, Planned Parenthood’s abortions rose almost 11 percent under her leadership, while actual medical services for women sharply declined. Breast cancer screenings dropped 62 percent, pap tests 72 percent, and prenatal care 30 percent. Richards’ time at the abortion giant was also marked by the reveal of Planned Parenthood’s baby parts sales, and evasive congressional testimony on the scandal that forced her to admit that Planned Parenthood never offered mammograms.
Cruz is currently leading O'Rourke by 4.5 points, according to RealClearPolitics' polling average. A Democrat victory in the deep-red state of Texas would be a major upset to the GOP, and a major boon to Democrats' efforts to retake the narrowly-divided Senate.