A routine gesture of remembrance devolved into an ugly brawl on the Texas House floor Thursday, as hardline Republicans successfully blocked a memorial resolution honoring Cecile Richards, former president of Planned Parenthood and a Texas native. Richards died earlier this year.
Normally, memorial resolutions to honor Texans who have died are passed without controversy. They are usually the House’s quietest business: a list of names read aloud, a gavel strike, no partisan debate. But the resolution for Richards sparked a cascade of outrage from conservatives who accused their colleagues of “honoring a woman who perpetrated the murder of children.”
After a morning of protest and delays, Republicans appear to have won, for now. After a lengthy debate, the resolutions were being pulled from consideration for the day effectively torpedoing the entire slate of memorials, which included tributes to U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat from Houston who died last year from pancreatic cancer, and Jill Glover, a local conservative activist who died last year from cancer. The calendar was withdrawn and returned to committee.
“WE WON!” Rep. Nate Schatzline, a Republican from Fort Worth, posted on X, formerly Twitter. “Texas will never honor those who mass murder our unborn children!”
The debate began earlier in the morning when a knot of conservative lawmakers stood at the back, while others took the mic to interrogate Speaker Dustin Burrows.
“Do you, as speaker, believe it’s appropriate that on Easter weekend we’re honoring Cecile Richards, former president of Planned Parenthood?” asked Rep. Brian Harrison, a Republican from Midlothian.
Rep. Wes Virdell, R-Brady, chimed in and asked the speaker, “Is it standard procedure to honor people who have killed millions of unborn babies?”
Rep. Mitch Little, R-Lewisville, urged his Republican colleagues not to “drink a little bit of poison.”
A hand-drawn sign reading “FOR JILL” referring to Glover, also memorialized that day, was raised in the background.
Emotions were high. Rep. Keresa Richardson, R-McKinney, wept behind the podium.
Rep. Ramon Romero Jr., D-Fort Worth, sang Las Mañanitas, the Spanish Happy Birthday song that’s typically also sung to mothers on Mexican mother’s day.
“We’re going to disagree on a lot of things. … But if somebody meant something to you or to me, the tradition of this house is that we honor those persons, whether we agree with that person’s life or not,” he said.
Rep. Donna Howard, the Democrat from Austin who brought forward the resolution, gave a heartfelt speech honoring Cecile Richards, describing her as a dedicated advocate who worked to ensure equal access to education and affordable health care.
Howard noted that Richards was known for her tenacity, grit, wisdom and heart and that she made a positive impact on the state and nation. She added that due to online controversy, the Richards family chose not to attend the memorial resolution.
“We all deserve the opportunity to come before this chamber to recognize, celebrate our constituents and know that we and they will be met with the utmost respect. That is what I expected when I filed HR 236,” she said. “The Richards family was denied that opportunity.”
Rep. Ann Johnson, D-Houston, tried to restore order. “This is supposed to be the least political thing we do today,” she said.
But politics flooded every corner of the chamber.
Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, dryly noted, “Are you aware that by having spent the amount of time that you’ve spent up there, you’ve actually honored Cecile?” and smirked after his comment, which got some claps and cheers.
Richards was the daughter of former Texas Gov. Ann Richards. Before leading Planned Parenthood, she worked as a labor organizer and founded America Votes, a coalition of progressive grassroots organizations that register, educate and turn out voters. When she stepped down from Planned Parenthood in 2018, she co-founded Supermajority, a group working to get more women into Democratic politics. She died from brain cancer in January.
“One of my life goals is to haunt Texas politicians the way Cecile Richards does,” said Shellie Hayes-McMahon, executive director of Planned Parenthood Texas Votes. “They can try to erase her, but her vision and impact on the state of Texas will outlive their petty political games.”
It remains unclear when the memorial calendar will return — and whether Richards’ name will be on it.
Renzo Downey and Eleanor Klibanoff contributed to this reporting.
Disclosure: Planned Parenthood has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
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