POPSUGAR: You're still putting a lot of support behind Planned Parenthood and staying involved. Do you think under a different reality maybe you would have stepped back a little more, or felt like you could take a break? Or is that even in your nature?
Cecile Richards: I mean, it's probably not in my nature. And also, I didn't really leave because I was burned out. I think I just felt like I had done what I'd set out to do at Planned Parenthood. And the organisation — the movement — is much stronger. I felt like there are a lot of women in this country who are worried about a lot of issues, including their access to reproductive healthcare. They're worried about their pay. They're worried about their parents, their kids, their education. And I thought, "I want to start talking to women about a broad array of issues." To use this moment we have, where women are the most unbelievable political force in the country, and try to make all of this add up to be more.
PS: I was looking at some recent interviews you've done and speeches you've given before this interview. Your recent speech where you said, "the future is Latina," I found, got tons of pick-up on far-right sites — with no further analysis or critique or anything — just presented on its own.
CR: Oh really? Like it's a menace? [laughter] That is amazing. You obviously have probably spent more time seeing what people reacted to than I did. I think the truth is, if I had been supporting a political system that just lifted up white men, I'd be worried, too. Because that's not where the action is right now. And it is really exciting to see these young women defying everybody's expectations. I don't think it's going to stop, because they all feed on each other. The success of one woman absolutely generates excitement by other women and it just keeps growing.
PS: You have two adult daughters. I'm curious to know how they've informed your views and if there's anything that they have gotten you to come around on?
CR: I think the generational education going on around the #MeToo Movement and Time's Up is profound. There are so many things I think women of my generation just dealt with, like, "well, that's just how it is." You didn't want to derail your career, or you didn't want to rock the boat. And I find that my daughters are just having none of it. That has been really a good education for me: to recognise that there's no reason that any woman should put up with sexual harassment, sexual assault, belittling behaviour. Hannah and Lily definitely were way far ahead of me, as are other women of that generation.