Shonda Rhimes isn't a doctor. She doesn't even play one on TV (though, at this point, she probably knows more about obscure diseases than your internist). But Rhimes, who has given us Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, and How to Get Away With Murder, will now speak for one of the most trusted health care providers in America: This morning, Planned Parenthood will announce she's joined its national board.

Rhimes has been active at her local affiliate for years, volunteering her time and resources to elevate the organization's mission. But this move formalizes and expands on that work. Rhimes, who has built an empire (and quite literally written the book) on seizing opportunities, tells ELLE.com that it was Planned Parenthood Federation of America president Cecile Richards who invited her to consider the new role. Rhimes didn't hesitate. "When someone you really admire...calls on you to serve, you say yes," she explains. (It's mutual, says Richards: "I've been so, so impressed by everything she's ever done.") "The fact is that women's health is under fire right now," Rhimes says. "And so to me, it feels like it's important to help fight back."

"I just want to be of service," she continues. "And I'll do that any way I can."

Between sets, rallies, airports, roundtables, demonstrations, shoots, testimonies, and what seems like at least several hundred appearances that each woman is required to make daily, Rhimes and Richards found time to discuss women's health care, scared men in suits, and the power of storytelling.

Cecile, why did you reach out to Shonda?

Cecile Richards: Shonda was already serving on the board out in Los Angeles, and she's been a great supporter for a long time. But what she brings not only to this board, but frankly to the world, is her commitment to lift up the stories of people who don't always get heard, whether it's in the way she talks about LGBT issues or women's reproductive health care or [the way she] centers people of color on television. To me, the most important work we can do now at Planned Parenthood is make sure that the voices of all those folks are heard, particularly in this political environment. And there's just no one better at utilizing the power of storytelling than Shonda Rhimes.

Shonda, when were you first exposed to Planned Parenthood and the work it does?

Shonda Rhimes: Interestingly, I'm not even sure I could tell you what my first exposure was. It's always been around for me, as far as I can remember. There wasn't a time that there wasn't a Planned Parenthood [available to me]. And I'm fortunate. I've always had medical care. I've always had access. I've never personally had to use a Planned Parenthood. But I have many friends who have and do and did, and I think it's important that that access be there for everyone.

Planned Parenthood serves everyone, not only women. But representatives and cable news pundits tend to talk about it as a "woman's issue," which marginalizes it, even though we know women are 51 percent of the population and have given birth to the other 49 percent. What do you make of that?

Rhimes: I'd put it this way: There are a lot of men who run things. And so for them, if it's not about them, it's considered an "other." I think the point of our country, our planet, the reason we're all here, one of the best things that we can do is be concerned about something even when it doesn't concern us. That's the whole point. The fact that I've never had to use a Planned Parenthood, the fact that I've never been in need of medical services I couldn't afford or didn't have access to, doesn't mean I shouldn't be concerned about the fact that other women don't have that access. I think that's important. The same way there shouldn't be men going around saying, "Well, it's just a women's issue" because it doesn't involve their uteruses because they don't have them. That's such a simplistic and silly way to look at this. Obviously it concerns them. It should obviously concern them. When you help make people healthier, it makes the nation healthier, it makes the world healthier, it makes the economy healthier.

The fact that I've never had to use a Planned Parenthood, the fact that I've never been in need of medical services I couldn't afford or didn't have access to, doesn't mean I shouldn't be concerned about the fact that other women don't have that access.

At the same time, while it doesn't serve only women, Planned Parenthood does provide women with one of only a few health care spaces that have been built with women—their health, their comfort, their safety—in mind. Why do you think that makes such a difference? Why are women's spaces so important?

Rhimes: Because I have a medical show, I read a lot of studies about the fact that there is a bias in the way health care is doled out, down to the fact that most medical studies are done on men, not women, so most dosages are planned for men, not women, and on and on. And more than that, women's pain is gauged differently and their complaints are received differently. And the idea that there's a place where you can go where everything is geared toward you, as a woman, is great. But it's a shame that we need to find places that are "safe" when the world, the whole world, should be a safe place. It's 2017, for God's sakes. But because it needs to exist, I'm glad that there is that space.

When Olivia Pope had an abortion on-screen, I remember reading that you were surprised that the "backlash" wasn't as severe as you might have anticipated. Does that mean that we're headed in a positive direction? That these issues are becoming less stigmatized? Basically, do we have a reason to be optimistic?

Rhimes: I don't know that I was surprised. But I think that the studio and the network were surprised that there wasn't a backlash. Yes, as we've all become more educated and aware, I think people have developed very different opinions over what is "controversial" and what's not.

Most people, I think, have accepted that it's not up to them to control other people's choices, except, it seems, when it comes to Washington, D.C., where everyone has an opinion about people's uteruses.

I'm constantly having the conversations; I had a lot of conversations when we did that scene in which I tried to explain that just like all the scenes I did on Grey's Anatomy, in this scene we were portraying a medical procedure that is legal in the United States of America. I wasn't sure what everybody was so concerned about. I was accurately portraying a medical procedure that the Supreme Court says people are allowed to have. I wasn't going to pull any punches. It's been a long time since Roe v. Wade, and I do think [most people] are able to have respect for other people's choices. Most people, I think, have accepted that it's not up to them to control other people's choices, except, it seems, when it comes to Washington, D.C., where everyone has an opinion about people's uteruses.

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Richards: I wasn't surprised at all. She wrote a story that was not sensational; it was real. And people related to it. There's almost no one in America who can't relate to the issue of an unplanned pregnancy or a troubled pregnancy; it's touched them somehow in their lives. We know the statistics. I do think the disconnect between a lot of women who've lived their lives and are deeply familiar with these issues and studio executives or members of Congress who may have never really thought about it or only thought about it in political terms. It's deeply personal, and it touches all women's lives.

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We know that one in three women will have an abortion, and yet with the exception of your shows, very few TV shows, books, movies tackle this topic. When you were growing up or at the beginning your career, did you see anyone take this on in a way that felt authentic?

Rhimes: No, actually. I didn't consciously keep track. But once we were working on Cristina Yang's storyline or [Olivia Pope's storyline], I did start to take note of other ways it had been done because then you want to look around. To me, these were just moments in character's lives that needed to be portrayed because that's how they happen in people's lives. The same way someone decides to have a baby, the same way someone decides to never have children, the same way that someone decides to go on fertility drugs. It was a storyline that came up, and we've done all of those storylines.

Now that you're serving in this role, what can we expect to see from you?

Rhimes: I haven't totally defined what I want to do yet, but mostly I want to be of service一in any way that I can. And if that is helping to convey messages, that is what I'm going to do. If it's rolling up my sleeves and getting to work, that is what I'm going to do. I think it's important for women to have a means to get health care. I think it's important that women have a place to go to get Pap smears and cancer screenings. And it shouldn't be considered extra. It shouldn't be considered something that can be "cut." It shouldn't be something that's in danger of going away. The idea that we're even thinking about cutting that off because somebody else isn't enjoying it themselves or somebody has extreme opinions about it is worrisome to me. So, I just want to be of service. And I'll do that in any way I can.

Richards: The best thing we can do is just channel the enormous creative energy and storytelling ability that Shonda Rhimes already has [in order] to do our work even better. And she couldn't be joining us at a better time. When so much basic health care is under attack, as we saw just a few weeks ago as a room full of men negotiated away maternity benefits for women, it's never been more important for people's stories to be told. At Planned Parenthood we've spent the past few months making sure that our patients, from every background, have ways to tell their stories on television, in the media. It's so critical that they're out there talking about why they count on Planned Parenthood, how Planned Parenthood has literally saved their lives. We're at a record level of support for Planned Parenthood now and for the services we provide because people understand what would be lost if in fact the federal government blocked folks from being able to come to us for health care. We need folks in Washington to hear that. And Shonda has always been unapologetic about speaking truth to power. She does it every Thursday night. We're just incredibly grateful that of all the ways she could be spending her time, she's committed some of it to Planned Parenthood.

These interviews have been edited and condensed for clarity.