Cecile Richards may no longer be the leader of Planned Parenthood, but that doesn’t mean she’s done spreading her pro-abortion message.
After leaving the organization in 2018, Richards wrote a memoir, Make Trouble: Standing Up, Speaking Out, and Finding the Courage to Lead. The book received glowing reviews from Hillary Clinton and Gloria Steinem, but no children could be compelled to pick up the 200-plus page memoir.
As all activists know, you have to make disciples young, so Richards rewrote the book for a more impressionable audience. The young readers edition of Make Trouble comes out later this month.
To promote the book, Richards spoke with the School Library Journal, a magazine “for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people.”
The book is “part memoir, part call to action,” and of course it’s explicitly pro-abortion. She admits: “Something we didn’t do was shy away from tough topics, like reproductive rights, privilege, racism, or the heartbreak of losing elections.”
“We got help from the experts at Planned Parenthood on how to talk about the reproductive system and sex education,” Richards explained. The statement should be concerning to any parents who identify as pro-life.
As if to quell their fears, Richards added, “I feel strongly that young readers are smart enough to take on hard, complicated issues and make up their own minds about what they believe.” But when it comes to abortion, Planned Parenthood would like to make up their own minds for them.
When asked how she would respond to librarians who would pull her new book from school shelves, Richards stressed that she wouldn’t back down: “I believe in giving young readers a chance to make up their own minds about what they think. This book isn’t just about being president of Planned Parenthood or campaigning for Hillary Clinton in 2016, even though I talk about those things.”
Children are already exposed to plenty of political propaganda, from Chelsea Clinton’s She Persisted: 13 American Women Who Changed the World to Kamala Harris’ Superheroes Are Everywhere. Not to miss out on the trend, Hillary collaborated with Chelsea Clinton on a new book about “gutsy women.” A Child’s First Book of Trump, published in 2016, was a New York Times bestseller. Then there’s A is for Activist and Woke Baby. And the list goes on.
Richards’ new book is particularly concerning, though, as it targets young girls with the message that empowerment and strength comes from ending the life of a child in the womb. That’s “trouble” for sure, but not the kind that Richards thinks.
