My opponent tonight is outgoing president
of Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards.
-Her new memoir... -(cheers and applause)
Her brand-new memoir is called
Making Trouble: Standing Up, Speaking Out,
and Finding the Courage to Lead.
Guess what? You don't need courage to lead.
Just ask Paul Ryan.
Cecile Richards, everybody.
-Hey. Good to see you, Jordan. -Cecile, welcome.
-Good to see you. Yeah. -Good to see you.
So, Cecile,
today is officially your last day as president
of Planned Parenthood after 12 years.
12 years, that's right.
Did you find Jesus?
If so, welcome to the flock.
Uh, I've been so honored to do this job for 12 years.
Planned Parenthood is actually one
of the most popular organizations in the country,
even according to Fox News.
Uh, uh, in fact, um...
(cheers and applause)
And, uh, one in five women in this country
have been to us for health care.
And I'm so proud of the work we've done,
and I'm ready to make room
for somebody else to lead the organization now.
Now, you claim that Planned Parenthood
-is not in the federal budget. -That's exactly correct.
But then why am I so mad
about the federal budget funding
Planned Parenthood and abortions?
Yeah, so, I don't know why you're mad, but, uh...
I need an answer. I'm-I'm furious.
So Planned Parenthood operates
like all other health care providers in the country.
We get reimbursed for preventive services
like birth control, which is very popular in America.
We do pap smears, we do breast exams,
and all of that is reimbursed just like hospitals.
Federal funding does not pay for abortion,
except in very limited circumstances.
So we operate like everyone else.
Now I heard it is paid for by the federal--
And my-my uncle sells-- sends out this, uh, this tweet,
and he also has an e-mail
-with a bunch of information and pictures on it. -Right.
-And that's been going around for years. -Right.
Well, in fact, he's wrong.
And so is a lot of congress, and that's why, actually,
there's been such an outpouring of support around the country,
especially among women, when this president
and this congress tried to, you know, defund, as they said,
or prevent women from coming to Planned Parenthood.
We were able to beat back the efforts
to both defund Planned Parenthood
and repeal Obamacare.
And Planned Parenthood's doors are still open
all across the United States of America.
Now, you had a meeting with, uh, "Javanka,"
Jared and Ivanka, in 2017.
-That's correct. -In this book, you talk a little bit about it,
that they made you a very good offer--
you and Planned Parenthood-- What happened?
Well, so Ivanka Trump had said she wanted to meet
to talk about Planned Parenthood,
because her father had said he was going to defund us again.
And I thought, well, if there's any chance
to make my case, uh, I, you know, wanted to do that.
I did make my husband come with me,
so that I have a witness.
But actually, really they,
they didn't want to talk too much about Planned Parenthood.
Pretty much Jared Kushner said
if we would quit providing access
to safe and legal abortion, which we will not,
then he would actually get more federal funding
for Planned Parenthood. And I just said,
"Look, we're not gonna trade off women's rights
in this country for money."
That's just not who we are.
(cheers and applause)
That sounds like a deal.
You got to give a little to take a little.
Well, we're not making deals
about women's health and women's rights.
And actually, Ivanka did say, she said,
"Well, you have to understand my father's pro-life."
I said, "Well, he can have his own opinion,
but he can't take away the rights of millions
of American women that make their own decisions
about their pregnancy.
-And, uh, and also... -(cheers and applause)
I mean, I s-- you know, I... (stammers)
How can he say he's pro-life
when he's trying to deport dreamers,
take away health care from millions of people
in this country ,and maternity benefits,
all of the things that this administration is trying to do?
So I-I just feel like he really needs
to rethink what his values are.
Well, he's very pro-his life.
Yeah. (laughs) That may be it.
You've said that if members of congress could get pregnant,
a lot of issues would be solved.
-Don't you think? -Well, but I...
I have an issue with that.
How are old white men over the age of 50
-going to get pregnant? -Exactly. Exactly.
It doesn't make any sense, like...
Yes, no, I think that's exactly right.
In fact, I remember when one of the senators said
that he thought we shouldn't even be covering
maternity benefits for women
because he was never going to need them.
So, I guess, apparently,
he was past his childbearing years.
And, uh... But thank--
this is why we need more women in office.
Debbie Stabenow, the senator from Michigan,
said, "Well, I bet your mother did,"
and actually, we were able to get maternity benefits
for millions of women.
But this administration is trying to take them away.
Are you just inciting violence here?
Make Trouble. What are you getting at?
-I think it's important. I-I... -Just look at this pi...
-This feels like just an antifa handbook. -It's getting your...
-All of this. -It's getting you agitated right there.
-It's just... It's so angry. -(laughs)
It's, uh... You know, right after the election,
every day it seemed like someone stopped me on the street
and said, "What can I do? I need to do something more."
And I decided instead of talking
to every single person on the subway--
-as some people try to do... -Don't do that.
-Trust me, yeah. -Yeah, I'm not gonna do that--
that I would put it in a book instead.
And I hope it's kind of a call to action
and a little bit of a memoir.
And what I have seen around the country
is that women are doing everything.
They're, you know, they're marching,
they're going to town hall meetings,
they're calling their members of Congress.
But what we've got to really make sure
is that this November they're going to vote,
'cause that's how we're gonna change the direction of America.
(cheering and applause)
All those women out there,
I hear voting in December is much cooler.
Tell me something I already know.
Well, I think it's maybe just something you need to know
is that Planned Parenthood
actually now has twice the membership
of the National Rifle Association.
-(cheering and applause) -And so, um, I just...
Birth control and Planned Parenthood are really popular,
so maybe you should switch your allegiances.
-That's my idea. -Those numbers can't be right.
-It's absolutely right. -They can't be right.
-It's absolutely true. -I hope those numbers aren't right.
They're right. They're correct.
Her new memoir is called Making Trouble.
Cecile Richards. The fight continues.