Women 'Essential' to Electoral Success in Texas, Planned Parenthood's Richards Writes

February 28, 2013 — Women are a "critical element for anyone seeking electoral success in Texas," Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Cecile Richards writes in a New York Times letter to the editor, responding to a recent opinion piece about Democratic attempts to leverage the Hispanic vote to turn "Texas blue."

She continues that Republican "Gov. Rick Perry and his party have given priority to anti-women's health policies, first slashing money for the state's family planning program and then creating a costly health program that denies women access to Planned Parenthood's preventive health care services."

Perry's strategy is "out of touch with what Texans want," Richards writes, citing a poll that found 77% of Hispanics "support state-financed family planning, including access to birth control." She adds that women in particular "are fed up with the backward policies coming out of Austin -- and by the way, women make up a majority of the growing population of Hispanic voters in Texas" (Richards, New York Times, 2/26).