Planned Parenthood and Black Lives Matter Leaders Partner for ‘Women’s New Deal’ Movement Ahead of 2020

The former president of Planned Parenthood and a Black Lives Matter co-founder are joining with the director of a domestic workers’ advocacy group to launch a new political action group in advance of the 2020 election.

Cecile Richards, the former CEO of abortion chain Planned Parenthood, and Alicia Garza, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter, are partnering with Ai-jen Poo, director of National Domestic Workers Alliance. The women say one of the priorities of their group, dubbed Supermajority, is to create a “women’s New Deal for gender equality.”

According to BuzzFeed News, the organizers plan to teach two million women how to engage in political activism.

The report added:

The group will emphasize the intersection of issues affecting different racial and socioeconomic groups in the US, Richards and Poo told BuzzFeed News Saturday. In collaboration with its separate education division, Supermajority will train women on how to participate in politics and activism in their communities, both online and on the ground.

The progressive leaders said they will travel around the country for a “listening tour” to meet with women about priority issues.

Amid concerns that Planned Parenthood’s new president, Dr. Leana Wen, is moving the abortion vendor away from politics and toward beefing up its diminishing healthcare services, Richards said she invited her former organization to join the new women’s effort, and Wen agreed.

“If anything I feel like [Planned Parenthood is] really interested in how we can continue to grow this movement, and I’m really proud of the work they’re doing,” Richards said.

“Alongside the entire Planned Parenthood family, I am thrilled about the launch of Supermajority, which builds upon the work of so many powerful women leaders and women’s rights advocates across the country,” Wen also said, according to the report.

Richards said she and Poo have been planning the women’s political action group since even before she stepped down as Planned Parenthood president.

“The two of us got together more than a year ago to start talking about this idea, so it’s been germinating for quite a while,” Richards told BuzzFeed News. “It just felt like there was this moment where millions more women wanted to organize than even our two organizations could keep up with.”

Poo hopes to work with Time’s Up, the organization launched by women in Hollywood after the #MeToo movement took hold in the country.

Garza will highlight the issues important to Black Lives Matter — the movement that she and other left-wing leaders created around allegations of police brutality.

According to the report, Supermajority will also work closely with Pantsuit Nation, a Facebook group created to support Hillary Clinton’s failed 2016 White House bid.