Cecile Richards
Democratic National Convention
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Remarks as Prepared for Delivery

My mother, Ann Richards, gave the keynote address at the Democratic convention 20 years ago. I wish she were here with us to celebrate -- everything she worked for and believed in is coming true this week in Denver.

I am the president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. After eight years of George Bush, you might be surprised that a Texan is president of Planned Parenthood. After all, there aren't many people eager to see the words "Texan" and "president" in the same sentence ever again. I'm proud that for only the second time in our history, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund has endorsed a candidate for president, Barack Obama.

Planned Parenthood health centers are the leading providers of women's health care in the country. One in four women visit them--and not just for birth control--for cancer screening and breast exams. Many women have no other source of health care. I see firsthand what women and families are facing--choosing between rent and doctor visits--young people needing information to make responsible decisions about their health.

Women deserve a president who understands their health care needs. The record is clear: Barack Obama does and John McCain does not. Barack Obama has worked for affordable family planning, for comprehensive sex education and for a woman's right to choose. He will be a president who supports women's health and rights one hundred percent. He's the change America needs.

And John McCain? He'll be more of the same. He's spent 25 years working against the health care needs of women. John McCain has voted against women's health care 125 times. You can look it up: he voted against real sex education, against affordable family planning and, if elected, John McCain has vowed to appoint Supreme Court justices who will overturn Roe v. Wade.

John McCain believes that judges, politicians and bureaucrats know better than women themselves what's best for their health. Just two weeks ago, John McCain said he didn't know if insurance companies should cover birth control. Well, let me remind you senator, you voted against it twice.

Where women's health is concerned, it seems clear that when John McCain says "I don't know," what he really means is "I don't care." Women deserve better.

On that summer night in Atlanta 20 years ago my mother introduced her "nearly perfect" granddaughter Lily. Lily is here tonight and there is nothing that would make Mom prouder than that this November Lily will cast her first vote for president - for Barack Obama. For mom, for Lily, and for all women, Barack Obama is the right choice.

Barack Obama is the change America needs.