Planned Parenthood North Central States names a current Minnesota lawmaker as next CEO

Iowa's Planned Parenthood affiliate has selected a new leader.

Ruth Richardson, Minnesota state representative and current head of a women's substance use disorder treatment center, has been named the CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central States. She will start on Oct. 6. 

"Taking on this new role in this new post-Roe world definitely comes with some uncertainty and some challenges, but I'm really excited to step into this role because I know how important the work that Planned Parenthood does and has been doing for decades," she said in an interview with the Des Moines Register Tuesday. 

Richardson succeeds longtime president and CEO Sarah Stoesz, who announced her intention to step away this past December after twenty years. However, beginning in October, Stoesz will remain as president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund and will oversee the organization's political operations as long as Richardson is in office.

Richardson, a Democrat, is currently serving her second term in the state's House of Representatives and is on the ballot for re-election in the upcoming November election.

A lawyer by trade, she also currently serves as the CEO of Wayside Recovery Center, an inpatient residential treatment facility for women with coexisting substance use disorders and mental health conditions. 

“Ruth’s education, background and experience in health care, health equity and executive leadership position her to successfully lead PPNCS forward," Sharon Sayles Belton, PPNCS board member and chair of the CEO search committee, said in a statement. "We were delighted that the PPNCS Board of Directors unanimously approved Ruth Richardson’s nomination.”

Planned Parenthood North Central States operates 28 health centers across five states, including Iowa, and provides reproductive and sexual health care to more than 100,000 patients per year, officials said.

The non-profit health system, headquartered in St. Paul, also offers sex education across four states, including Iowa.

The leadership transition comes at a perilous time for abortion access in the organization's region, which spans across Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Once the United States Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 case Roe v. Wade, ending decades of precedent, South Dakota enacted a trigger law that banned abortion at all stages.

Abortion remains legal up to 20 weeks in Iowa, but patients are required to undergo a 24-hour waiting period before obtaining the procedure. Iowa, along with Nebraska and North Dakota, are are categorized by experts as "hostile" toward abortion, meaning its policymakers are likely to pursue restrictions on abortion in the near future. 

Only one state — Minnesota — has expanded access to abortion in the months since the federal court has overturned Roe. 

Correction: Sarah Stoesz will remain as president of the organization's action fund, a separate legal entity that oversees Planned Parenthood's political work. The nonprofit offers sex education in four states, including Iowa. This version has been corrected.

Michaela Ramm covers health care for the Des Moines Register. She can be reached at mramm@registermedia.com, at (319) 339-7354 or on Twitter at @Michaela_Ramm.