'Short-term political gain is going to have long-term terrible consequences for women.'.

• Position: THE SL INTERVIEW: CECILE RICHARDS - Interview

Cecile Richards is president of Planned Parenthood and the public face of the organization during battles this year over funding in Congress and several statehouses.

Richards joined Planned Parenthood in 2006, and previously worked as deputy chief of staff for U.S. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. She also founded America Votes, a coalition of national grassroots organizations that works to increase voter registration and participation. She is the daughter of former Texas Governor Ann Richards.

STATE LEGISLATURES: When Indiana lawmakers voted to cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood, were you surprised?

CECILE RICHARDS: I have been surprised--particularly at a time when the economy is in such dire straits, when pretty much every voter's primary concern is getting the country back to work--at how state legislatures have been focused on repealing women's access to basic health care.

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SL: Do you anticipate more such legislation in 2012?

RICHARDS: We've seen more than 1,000 bills filed in state legislatures in 49 states during this session on issues of reproductive health care. Even though the Indiana legislature passed that bill and Governor Daniels signed it, I think what is important is that the federal government has been very swift and direct in its analysis, which is that it violates Medicaid law. This is discriminatory and illegal. I think it is going to have a bit of a chilling effect on those legislatures playing political games with the Medicaid access issue, because now they are putting their Medicaid programs at risk.

SL: In the past, has any state tried to cut Planned Parenthood out of Medicaid?

RICHARDS: No. We see 3 million patients a year, and many of them either qualify for Medicaid, are low income or have no health insurance. If you tell women on Medicaid they can't go to Planned Parenthood for cancer screenings and for birth control, in a lot of parts of the country there is nowhere else to go.

SL: So you think Planned Parenthood is under more assault at the state level now than in the past?

RICHARDS: Absolutely. This short term political gain is going to have long-term terrible consequences for women and I think terrible consequences for the folks who are pushing these kinds of measures. We are a mainstream, essential provider of health care to them and their families, and a lot of women are just completely perplexed at why lawmakers would try to start playing politics at a time when women...