The new generation of #WomenWhoDare are those who refuse to conform. They dare to do the impossible, encouraging young visionaries to break—not just push—boundaries, inspiring people around the world to fight for what they believe in. Here, Cecile Richards pens an important essay about the ordinary women who are driving the resistance for our 2017 Women Who Dare series.
Who could ever forget the view from the National Mall during the Women’s March on Washington? Pink pussy hats as far as the eye could see and a crowd that radiated excitement and hope.
Ten months later and it’s clear that energy is as alive as ever. Women across America have banded together to form a movement unlike anything I’ve seen in my lifetime. And the best part is that the leaders of this movement don’t sit in Congress or make headlines: they’re ordinary women, whose individual actions have combined to create an unstoppable force.
Planned Parenthood's more than 10 million supporters have helped beat back three attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. And they've kept Planned Parenthood’s doors open. Which was no easy feat, considering that at the start of this new Congress, House Speaker Paul Ryan made a public pledge to have a bill with a measure to “defund” Planned Parenthood on the president’s desk no later than February.
But the day Speaker Ryan made that promise, you couldn’t get a phone call into his office because the lines were so jammed—women around the country shut down the congressional switchboard! One of his own constituents, Lori Hawkins from Kenosha, Wisconsin, became so incensed that she decided she couldn’t sit idly by. Years ago, Lori had come to a Planned Parenthood health center after experiencing severe abdominal pain. Today, she credits our clinicians with finding the ovarian cysts that could have prevented her from becoming a mother.
With her daughter in tow, Lori has now traveled three times to Washington D.C. to share her story. She even appeared on CNN’s town hall on health care, confronting Senator Bill Cassidy about his last-ditch repeal effort. Afterward, she said, “A year ago, I hadn’t told this story to really anyone outside my family and close friends and then Monday night I shared it on national television…it just feels completely surreal that in less than a year I’ve gone from being a silent supporter to a national advocate like that. But, the current climate demanded it.”
She’s not the only one who thinks so. The resistance is stacked with first-time organizers, activists, and advocates—like Deja Foxx, a fearless teenager from Tucson, Arizona.
As a young person on her own, Deja didn’t have anyone to help her navigate the health care system when the time came for her to get birth control. “But I knew about Planned Parenthood—it’s just the place you go when you need help,” she said at a Planned Parenthood patient roundtable in April.
Deja was none too happy when she learned that Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona wanted to prevent patients from coming to Planned Parenthood. Along with a room full of activists, she attended a Town Hall that Senator Flake held this past spring in Mesa, Arizona. At 16 years old, she got up to the microphone and said:
“I just want to state some facts. So I’m a young woman, and you’re a middle-aged man. I’m a person of color, and you’re white. I come from a background of poverty, and I didn’t always have parents to guide me through life. You come from privilege. So I’m wondering…why is it your right to take away my right to choose Planned Parenthood?”
The crowd of hundreds gave her a standing ovation, and a video of her taking Senator Flake to task spread online like wildfire. Now, she’s working alongside Planned Parenthood to advocate for changes in sex education at her school.
Every day, I’m inspired by the actions of women like Lori and Deja. Every time Trump’s administration attempts to bargain away their maternity benefits, take away their birth control coverage, or block them from going to a Planned Parenthood, women all over te country have stood up and said “nope, not happening.”
And the number of women motivated to run for political office as a direct response to threats from this administration has been overwhelming. Emily’s List, an organization dedicated to electing pro-choice women to office, announced that more than 20,000 women have contacted them about running—up from 1,000 just one year ago.
Earlier this month, we received loud and clear confirmation of the political power of women. Virginia elected the first openly transgender member of a state legislature, and the two first Latinas to serve in the state House, including Hala Ayala.
“After the Women’s March, it was like ‘No more. Run for office. Make change,’” Hala told The New York Times.
In New Jersey, Atlantic County Freeholder John Carman thought it wise to share a meme during the Women’s March, asking, “Will the women’s protest be over in time for them to cook dinner?”
Thirty-two-year-old Ashley Bennett was so enraged that she ran for his seat—and won.
My mom, the late governor of Texas Ann Richards, always used to tell me, and any other woman who asked for her advice: “This is the only life you get, so make the most of it.” She spent much of her life doing what others expected of her—trying to be the perfect mom, the perfect housewife. But once she got going, there was no stopping her. In fact, when someone asked her what she would have done differently as governor she said, “I probably would have raised more hell.”
Today, women across this country are doing her proud. The earth is shifting under the force of millions of women standing up for themselves, for each other, for their daughters and their mothers and sisters. Women are no longer asking for permission. They’re just diving in and taking risks. They know we can’t afford to sit this one out.
So whatever path you choose, this is not the time to hold back or wait for instructions. The future is female, and if you aren’t outside your comfort zone, you probably aren’t doing enough. So join up, jump in. Trust me, you’ll be in good company.
Cecile Richards is the president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund.
