The recent Washington Post article about the boldness of the abortion rights movement didn’t actually get the story right.

Yesterday, a feature article about my leadership at Planned Parenthood was published in the Washington Post. I was excited to talk about how in our 99th year we had rebounded from the vicious smear campaign last summer to continue to be part of the effort to advance reproductive rights and freedom for all today.

Unfortunately, the article that ran in the Post overstated my role and did not do justice to our broad movement. Starting with the headline and throughout, the story continued the long history of erasing the bold and brave leadership of the reproductive justice community.

As with any bold movement, ours is being fueled by a generation of activists and leaders — primarily women of color — who are challenging the country, and all of us, to be unapologetic champions for the rights of all people to access abortion and reproductive care with a lens of social justice. The roots of this supposedly newfound boldness lie in the reproductive justice movement, which formally began 22 years ago this November, and which generated the growth across the country of organizing primarily led by women of color that has turned conventional attitudes and organizations on their heads.

Women of color-led organizations began the call for the repeal of the Hyde Amendment — a harmful law that denies access to abortion to those who have public insurance, discriminating against low-income women and, disproportionately, women of color.

The loud and proud campaigns to publicly talk about abortion and reduce stigma, and the work to address the historic injustice and oppression that women of color and other marginalized communities have experienced (and continue to) in order to control their bodies, didn’t start with Planned Parenthood. And many justifiably feel we have been late to the show.

Articles like the one in the Washington Post completely miss the point: The movement is fueled by organizers and organizations that are rightly calling all of us to task — to do more and do better. All* Above All, which is comprised of many reproductive justice leaders across the country, has led the fight to overturn the Hyde amendment and is the primary reason that it is now, in fact, part of the Democratic Party platform.

Most notably, it was the testimony of reproductive justice leaders at the Democratic Party Platform Committee hearings that elevated the need to repeal Hyde and center women of color in the conversation about reproductive rights and abortion.

Abortion funds across the country — grassroots and volunteer-run in many states — continue to work to ensure all women who decide to have an abortion can get one. This is work that is bold and tough and groundbreaking.

It is time that the leaders of today — of the reproductive justice and women of color-led organizations — get the recognition and credit that is long overdue , and that we all have the opportunity to learn from and work with them to support their vision.

Cecile Richards

*Submitted to the Editors of the Washington Post