Abortion industry giant Planned Parenthood has begun its search for a new president and CEO now that Cecile Richards has announced her departure after 12 years at the helm.

The search for a new leader of the feminist political movement that fashions itself as a women’s health organization is being led by former Planned Parenthood board member Anna Quindlen, a novelist and columnist, says a press release.

“We couldn’t be more excited that Anna has taken on this important role,” Planned Parenthood board chairman Naomi Aberly said in a statement. “Anna’s unique voice on behalf of women has motivated us for decades.”

Aberly added:

This is another pivotal year for Planned Parenthood. Thanks to the support of millions of Americans across the country, we are stronger than ever and will continue to provide “Care No Matter What” for the women, men, and young people who depend on us. We are determined to protect women’s health through the upcoming legislative sessions and in elections across the country. We are confident that our leadership at the national office and at Planned Parenthood affiliates will maintain the organization’s momentum as we search for a new president to replace the outstanding and dynamic leadership of Cecile Richards.

Under Richards’ tenure, the U.S. Department of Justice has launched a formal investigation into Planned Parenthood in the wake of allegations that the abortion vendor has profited from harvesting the body parts of babies aborted in its clinics.

Planned Parenthood’s own annual report, released earlier this month, shows the organization continues to perform over 320,000 abortions per year while it boosted its profits in 2016-2017 by $21 million – or 27 percent – from the previous year. The group also took in nearly $544 million in taxpayer funding, though the number of many of its non-abortion services has significantly declined.

Planned Parenthood notes that its board member Joe Solmonese – a former president of the Human Rights Campaign, known as the largest LGBT civil rights advocacy group and political lobbying organization in the United States – and a former CEO of abortion political advocacy group Emily’s List, will temporarily oversee Planned Parenthood’s operations following Richards’ departure until a new leader is chosen.

Progressive politicians and groups such as Black Lives Matter have been encouraging Richards to run for office following her departure from Planned Parenthood in May.

“F**k yeah she should run for office!” Alicia Garza, one of the founders of the Black Lives Matter movement told BuzzFeed News. “We’ve basically made a whole plan for her campaign without her.”

Former Bill Clinton political consultant Paul Begala said if Richards ran for office she would be a “conviction politician,” which, he added, “sadly is a rare species.”

“She is both principled and charming, which is a powerful combination,” he reportedly said. “I suspect even voters who disagreed with her would respect her for her convictions.”

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) reportedly told BuzzFeed News Richards would be an “extraordinary elected leader,” and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), said she would “love to see [Richards] run.”

Similarly, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) reportedly said of Richards, “She would be an amazing candidate if she wanted to run.”

“Reproductive justice leader” Loretta Ross wrote at HuffPost that Planned Parenthood should replace Richards with a “woman of color”:

Perhaps none of the challenges facing Planned Parenthood is as urgent as the racial and class divisions that shape how American women seek reproductive health care. Race and class are inextricable in America, and both interfere with access to and use of reproductive health services. Middle-class and wealthy women of all races use private doctors, not public clinics ― except under special circumstances, such as when they’re young or temporarily poor. Planned Parenthood’s financial structure depends on the low-income black and brown women who rely on its services in communities with the greatest needs ― places like Texas, which has the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world.

Ross adds that a “woman of color” would help Planned Parenthood fight the “overt and covert white supremacist movement – which we see in the ‘alt-right,’ the far right, the religious right and complicit Republicans.”

Planned Parenthood, however, was founded by eugenicist Margaret Sanger, and most of the abortions performed in its clinics are predominantly on black and Hispanic babies.

About 59 million abortions have been performed in the country since the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, nearly 18 million of them on black babies. As Breitbart News has reported, the Alan Guttmacher Institute – a pro-abortion rights group – has also provided data showing that about 30 percent of all abortions in the U.S. are performed on black women, with another 25 percent performed on Hispanic women.

“Planned Parenthood was born in eugenic racism and elitism, and Margaret Sanger was the mother who gave birth to the world’s largest abortion chain,” Ryan Bomberger, chief creative officer of The Radiance Foundation, told Breitbart News last year. “In the city where Planned Parenthood began, more black babies are aborted than born alive according to the New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. This is not the result of justice. It’s the result of animus.”

According to Planned Parenthood, the additional members of the search committee for a new president include:

Aimee Boone Cunningham, PPFA Board of Directors

​Cathy Hampton, Vice-chair, PPFA Board of Directors

Iris Harvey, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio; PPFA Board of Directors

Kiki McLean, Secretary, PP Action Fund Board of Directors

Luz Towns-Miranda, PP Action Fund Board of Directors

Mark Nichols, MD, PPFA Board of Directors

Sarah Stoesz, CEO, Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota; PPFA Board of Directors

Lillian Tamayo, CEO, Planned Parenthood of South, East, and North Florida

Carmen Rita Wong, PPFA Board of Directors

The search committee plans to work with a national firm that will supply a pool of candidates, the press release says.