Biden awards highest civilian honor to 'merchant of death' who oversaw nearly 4 million abortions

President Joe Biden, whom Cardinal Wilton Gregory of the Archdiocese of Washington deemed a "cafeteria Catholic" on Easter Sunday, has awarded the nation's highest civilian honor to Cecile Richards, a woman who made millions of dollars helping snuff out millions of American lives.

Pro-life critics have suggested a society that valued life would arrest, not award, Richards.

"With absolute courage, she fearlessly leads us forward to be the America we say we are — a nation of freedom," wrote Biden. "Through her work to lift up the dignity of workers, defend and advance women's reproductive rights and equality, and mobilize Americans to exercise their power to vote, she has carved an inspiring legacy."

'We've been very good at getting heart, lung, liver.'

According to the White House, the award is "presented to individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public, or private endeavors."

Richards, the daughter of the late Democratic Texas Gov. Ann Richards and a former deputy chief of staff for Nancy Pelosi, served from 2006 to 2018 as president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America — an organization founded by the infamous eugenicist Margaret Sanger, who stressed the need to "apply a stern and rigid policy of sterilization, and segregation to that grade of population whose progeny is already tainted or whose inheritance is such that objectionable traits may be transmitted to offspring."

The abortion tallies in Planned Parenthood's annual reports indicate that under Richards' leadership, the organization slaughtered over 3.87 million babies. In her final year, when the organization killed 332,757 babies, Richards' salary was $1,033,274, having fallen short of seven figures the previous fiscal year by roughly $42,000.

The organization under Richards reportedly created the super PAC Planned Parenthood Votes and expanded its lobbying arm, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, lining the coffers of Democratic lawmakers on the one hand and pushing for increased access and federal funding to abortion services on the other.

Leftists have also credited Richards with seeing the organization through the scandal that arose over pro-life citizen journalist and Center for Medical Progress founder David Daleiden's undercover videos in 2015 showing Planned Parenthood officials callously talking about butchering, playing with, and trafficking baby parts.

The CMP posted a video on July 14, 2015, showing a senior director of medical services at Planned Parenthood, Deborah Nucatola, state matter-of-factly over wine and lunch, "We've been very good at getting heart, lung, liver, because we know that 'I'm not gonna crush that part, I'm gonna basically crush below, I'm gonna crush above, and I'm gonna see if I can get it all intact.'"

"I'd say a lot of people want liver. And for that reason, most providers will do this case under ultrasound guidance, so they'll know where they're putting their forceps," continued Nucatola. "The kind of rate-limiting step of the procedure is calvarium. Calvarium — the head — is basically the biggest part."

Richards stressed in the aftermath of the video's release, "Our donation programs — like any other high-quality health care providers' — follow all laws and ethical guidelines," reported the New York Times.

After 12 years making money off death and sterilizations, Richards co-founded Supermajority, a leftist female-led PAC that quickly netted millions of dollars from George Soros.

Richards was diagnosed in 2023 with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain tumor with an average survival time of just over a year.

'Scary place to be.'

"Cecile Richards presided over the abortions of 3.9 million babies as president of Planned Parenthood," tweeted Live Action president Lila Rose. "She belongs in jail. Not in the White House receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

"She is literally a merchant of death," wrote Dan McLaughlin of National Review. "Hard to think of a living person who has killed more Americans."

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro noted, "Her legacy is millions of dead unborn children."

'This honor marks a dark chapter in the late stages of one of the darkest presidencies in American history.'

Kristan Hawkins, presidents of Students for Life, tweeted that with Richards at the helm, some of Planned Parenthood's victims' bodies were "dissected and sold to the highest bidder. Planned Parenthood representatives haggled over prices for livers and brains. Planned Parenthood’s abortions skyrocketed under Richards even as the organization’s number of total clients plummeted year after year. Cecile Richards is anything but honorable. What a disgrace."

Pro-Life Wisconsin pointed out that "ironically, the babies aborted under Cecile Richards' watch will never have freedom. Their rights were stripped as they were killed in ... what should have been the greatest place of safety — their mother's womb."

Edward Feser, a Catholic professor of philosophy at Pasadena City College, suggested Biden conferring the medal upon Richards showed his true colors: "The 'personally opposed, but …' Catholic Democrat line on abortion was always rank dishonesty, but to commend a ghoul like this is to drop even pretense. Biden's effectively using the last days of whatever cognitive clarity he has left to destroy his conscience. Scary place to be."

Blaze News previously reported that Cardinal Raymond Burke, a canon lawyer and former prefect of the Catholic Church's highest court, said in 2020 that Biden "is not a Catholic in good standing and he should not approach to receive Holy Communion."

"This is not a political statement," continued Burke. "I don't intend to get involved in recommending any candidate for office, but simply to state that a Catholic may not support abortion in any shape or form because it is one of the most grievous sins against human life and has always been considered to be intrinsically evil and therefore to in any way support act is a mortal sin."

Biden reiterated that he is a "practicing Catholic."

"This honor marks a dark chapter in the late stages of one of the darkest presidencies in American history when it comes to protecting mothers and unborn children," Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote, told the Washington Times. "Planned Parenthood has used billions of taxpayer dollars to profit from the tragic extermination of millions of children, while exploiting the health and well-being of countless women."

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