Planned Parenthood president: ‘Quit the hysteria’ about abortion

During an interview with Buzzfeed News Friday, Cecile Richards, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood, said that Americans should “quit the hysteria” surrounding the abortion debate.

“The heated rhetoric around Planned Parenthood, around abortion rights, around abortion doctors is actually really important, and it’s really harmful,” she said.

Richards cited the 2015 shooting at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic, arguing that it came after “some of the most heated rhetoric” about the organization from its critics and some “members of Congress”:

I do think it’s time we actually talk about the issue of abortion, the importance of it being safe and legal and available to women no matter their income, where they live, and quit, quit the hysteria, because it actually — it harms women, and harms women often who have the least ability to get health care in America.

During the interview about the American Health Care Act — House Republicans' and President Donald Trump’s plan to replace Obamacare — Richards said that the plan is “the most anti-woman bill that I have ever seen.”

“It’s wildly unpopular,” Richards said, calling the bill a “catastrophe” for women, and arguing that “women will lose their lives" if the bill becomes law.

The bill would strip funds from Planned Parenthood for one year.

Richards said that if the legislation is signed into law, Planned Parenthood is prepared to go to court to stop it, but the organization hopes it will be defeated in Congress.