Minnesota Republican on recently deceased Planned Parenthood leader: ‘Cecile is now in hell’

This article has been updated to include public comment from state Rep. Mary Franson.

On Tuesday, Minnesota state Rep. Mary Franson (R-Alexandria) responded to the death of former Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards on X by saying, “Cecile is now in hell.”

Cecile is now in hell. https://t.co/vpVmL2SlGa

— Mary (@RepMaryFranson) January 21, 2025

Franson did not immediately respond to a Heartland Signal media inquiry to further elaborate on her comments and the timeliness of her words. U.S. Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN), who was quoted by Franson in her X post, did not also immediately respond.

After this story was published, Franson responded to X posts from Heartland Signal twice. On one post, she replied with an image with text saying, “Thou shall not kill -God.” On another post, she commended the image used for this story, saying, “The photo Heartland used is one of my favorites from this summer on the golf course.”

Richards died at the age of 67 on Monday after a battle with brain cancer. From 2006-18, Richards served as the president of Planned Parenthood before co-founding the political action group Supermajority in 2019. Supermajority works to implement policies and educate voters on issues like voting rights, gun control, paid family leave and equal pay.

Franson, represents rural areas of Minnesota including the town of Alexandria, has served in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2011. During her time in the state government, Franson has stirred controversy on several occasions, including authoring a bill to strip funding from clinics that offer abortions and calling anti-bullying measures an “attack on the Bible and conservative Christians.”

In 2018, Franson also appeared to compare March for Our Lives protesters to Hitler Youth members, an incident she later apologized for.

Franson and her colleagues are currently holding illegitimate committee hearings and floor sessions after refusing to agree to a power-sharing agreement with the Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party. The GOP refused to seat duly-elected Rep. Brad Tabke (DFL) and decided to initiate a power grab despite not having the required 68 seats to govern with a majority, as is stated in the Minnesota Constitution.

The DFL has responded with an ongoing boycott of appearing in the state capitol until a special election is held in March to fill the final seat in the body. The election will likely result in an even 67-67 split in the House, as the district is in a solidly DFL area. Until the election, the power struggle is likely to continue unless the state Supreme Court rules that the GOP is unlawful in their governing efforts.