The Washington Post published an interview with Planned Parenthood President and CEO Cecile Richards that some social media users characterized as “fawning” on Tuesday in its Style section.
Our boldness comes from our work w/ #ReproJustice leaders @BlackwomensRJ @AllAboveAll @NLIRH @NAPAWF @AbortionFunds https://t.co/Jpgw9TzVuR
— Cecile Richards (@CecileRichards) August 16, 2016
The abortion rights movement is bolder than it’s been in years. That’s Cecile Richards’s plan. https://t.co/WIxcr68UxP
— Post Style (@PostStyle) August 16, 2016
The interview brushes on issues such as Planned Parenthood’s battle to repeal the Hyde Amendment, which would permit taxpayer funding for abortion procedures, before addressing Richards’ wardrobe:
“She is, as always, immaculately put together, her tall frame draped in a merlot-colored sheath and matching cardigan, gold earrings twinkling beneath her short, white-blond hair. Her alto voice conveys the subtlest hint of a Texas twang, and more than a hint of sarcasm.”
The article’s author, Caitlin Gibson, adds that “In person, the 59-year-old Richards exudes both a warm authenticity and a subtle impenetrability.”
Gibson also hailed Richards as "supremely polished, perpetually on-message" and an “activist extraordinaire.”
Some social media users critiqued the “fawning” tone of the article.
This fawning profile of @PPact head Cecile Richards is in -- wait for it -- WaPo's "Style" section. https://t.co/doS9SbaWJn
— Ian Tuttle (@iptuttle) August 16, 2016
Style? pic.twitter.com/sBiBhoHJLf
— David Rutz (@DavidRutz) August 16, 2016
Don't show your bias or anything, Washington Post pic.twitter.com/bzLbqLAo3p
— David Rutz (@DavidRutz) August 16, 2016
Given business @ppact is in—violently ending 300K+ innocent human lives each year—obsequious media coverage jars. https://t.co/wX8Gdf3aYa
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) August 16, 2016
I just vomited everywhere pic.twitter.com/g4uo9vTR5m
— Matthew Walther (@matthewwalther) August 16, 2016
Some of the interview does focus on the debate over the contentious issue of abortion.
Asked about those who oppose abortion, Richards replied, “There’s this thought that women are just too scattered, we’re too impulsive, we are too hormonal, we can’t make good decisions for ourselves.”
“Therefore we need the state to tell us, we need the state to give us medical information, even if it’s incorrect,” she continued sarcastically. “We need the state to give us an ultrasound because we must not really realize that we’re pregnant; we have to go away for 24 hours and think it over.”
“Can you imagine if these kinds of restrictions were put on any other kind of health care in America?” Richards added.
The article also claims that Planned Parenthood “successfully turned back a challenge by an antiabortion group that shot undercover video purporting to show that the organization was illegally selling fetal tissue.”
“Richards herself stared down hostile lawmakers bent on defunding her organization in a congressional hearing called after the videos surfaced,” it adds.
However, the allegations that Planned Parenthood is trafficking aborted fetal body parts - raised by undercover videos released by the Center for Medical Progress - are under an ongoing congressional investigation.
All criminal charges against the filmmakers behind the videos were recently dismissed.
The Washington Post once highlighted two pro-life activists - Lila Rose, president of Live Action, and Kristin Hawkins, president of Students for Life - in its Style section. With the exception of describing what Rose wore when she went undercover to film a video, that article does not shed light on the pro-lifers' preferred attire.
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