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(CNSNews.com) - Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards was given the Hubert H. Humphrey Civil and Human Rights Award by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights at a dinner held in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday night.
In its latest annual report, Planned Parenthood said that it did 321,384 abortions in fiscal 2016 and that in the year that ended on June 30, 2017 it received $543,700,000 in "government health services reimbursements and grants."
Organizations that belong to the conference that gave Richards the award include, among others, AARP, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Federation of Government Employees, the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, the American Federation of Teachers, the American Islamic Congress, American Postal Workers Union, Amnesty International, Children's Defense Fund, Common Cause, Families USA, Human Rights Watch, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, NAACP, the National Bar Association, Newspaper Guild, Open Society Policy Center, the Sierra Club and the United Farmworkers of America.
During her acceptance speech, Richards quoted civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, saying, “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.”
The Leadership Conference described Richards as “a nationally respected leader in women’s health and reproductive rights.”
“Planned Parenthood has worked for more than 100 years to build a healthier and safer world for women, men, and young people. She has grown advocacy efforts to fight for expanded access to health care, and has led innumerable nationwide campaigns to preserve patients’ access to preventive health care at Planned Parenthood health centers through federal programs,” the group said in a press release.
Civil rights activist Tarana Burke, founder of the “Me Too” movement in 2006 “to raise awareness of the pervasiveness of sexual violence in society,” was also honored as well as “Dreamers.”
“Dreamers are the more than 3.5 million immigrant youth eligible for protection under the Dream Act, which was introduced in 2001 and would have given its beneficiaries a path to American citizenship. Dreamers are multiethnic, multiracial, and include people with disabilities and the LGBTQ community. The fight to protect Dreamers is a fight to save the soul of our country,” the Leadership Conference said in a press release.
“Dreamers are America, and The Leadership Conference stands with them, advocating for their civil and human rights, and full access to the American Dream,” the press release stated.