Cecile Richards expresses plans to step down as Planned Parenthood president

Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards has reportedly expressed plans to resign from her post after overseeing the organization's operations for over a decade.

The abortion giant has yet to confirm the news, but an unnamed source had told Buzzfeed that Richards had informed some members of Planned Parenthood's directors about her plans to step down.

"Cecile plans to discuss 2018 and the next steps for Planned Parenthood's future at the upcoming board meeting," a Planned Parenthood official said in a statement on Wednesday.

During her tenure, Richards had expanded Planned Parenthood's political advocacy and raised the organization's profile through celebrity-oriented campaigns and increased political participation.

However, she had to grapple with several scandals, including sex abuse cover-ups and the organization's alleged involvement in aborted baby body parts trafficking.

Undercover videos released by the Center for Medical Progress in 2015 purportedly revealed how Planned Parenthood officials admitted that they are breaking federal law by selling aborted baby body parts for profit.

Richards had claimed that the videos were deceptively edited, but forensic analysis found that there was "no evidence of manipulation."

The first study, conducted by Fusion GPS and commissioned by Planned Parenthood itself, has reportedly concluded that "the audio was not tampered with."

A second study, commissioned by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and completed by Coalfire Systems, Inc., found that "all edits were 'non-pertinent.'"

The videos had prompted several congressional investigations, and the Department of Justice (DOJ) has recently launched its own probe on the abortion giant over the trafficking of fetal tissue.

David Daleiden of CMP said that he believes Richards' decision to resign is a major retreat for the organization, especially at a time when it is being investigated by the DOJ.

"After CMP's revealing undercover videos of Planned Parenthood's top abortion doctors and the damning findings of multiple Congressional probes, Richards' departure shows that the old strategy is no longer working as Planned Parenthood faces federal criminal investigation for selling aborted baby hearts, lungs, livers, and brains," he said.

"Planned Parenthood's new leadership should commit to full transparency with the Department of Justice and with the public, and to ending this taxpayer-funded criminal abortion enterprise once and for all," he added.

The organization's latest report indicated that it has performed 321,384 abortions and received $543.7 million in taxpayer money during the 2016-2017 fiscal year.

Before joining Planned Parenthood, Richards had served as deputy chief of staff for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. She had also served as the president of America Votes, a coalition of national Democratic Party-affiliated organizations, and is currently on the board of the Ford Foundation.