In a fundraising email Tuesday, Planned Parenthood President and CEO Cecile Richards expressed the organization’s opposition to the Trump administration’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — and made a statement some Twitter users called “ironic.”
The immigration policy, known as DACA, permits exemption from deportation for some individuals who were brought to the United States illegally as children. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Tuesday the administration plans to stop the program.
In a fundraising email, Richards called the end of the policy “an attack that will leave 800,000 young people who have grown up in this country at risk of deportation, including members of the Planned Parenthood community.”
“I'm infuriated,” she wrote. “I'm heartbroken. But I’m sure about one thing: Planned Parenthood stands with DREAMers, the young people in this community who are the future of this country.”
Richards argued that DACA “has helped so many young DREAMers access health care, get driver's licenses, receive an education, and work to provide for their families — and without DACA, their fate and ability to remain in this country is unknown.”
She vowed to “fight back against this cruel and heartless decision.”
“Here at Planned Parenthood, we firmly believe that every person has the right to live, work, and raise a family freely and without the threat of deportation or separation,” she added.
Planned Parenthood fundraising email: “We firmly believe that every person has the right to live” pic.twitter.com/yLwEhiufaK
— Kate Scanlon (@kgscanlon) September 5, 2017
Twitter users characterized Richards statement that “every person has the right to live” as “ironic,” noting that Planned Parenthood is the nation’s largest abortion provider.
