New York City Council Member

Jessica González-Rojas serves as the Executive Director at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, the only national reproductive justice organization that specifically works to advance reproductive health and rights for Latinas. She has been a leader in progressive movements for over 15 years. She is a regular contributor to El Diario/La Prensa and Huffington Post Latino Voices on pressing reproductive health issues in the Latina community, as well as a regular media voice in local and national outlets such as National Public Radio, the Brian Lehrer Show (WNYC-FM), the Bill Moyers Show, the Boston Globe and The New York Times. Jessica was featured in Latina Magazine’s “Making Us Proud” series, has been named one of “13 Women of Color to Watch in 2013” by the Center for American Progress and was honored as a “Champion for Choice” by the National Council of Jewish Women.

Executive Director

Kierra Johnson is the Executive Director of URGE (formerly Choice USA), a pro-choice organization working to mobilize and provide support for the diverse, upcoming generation of leaders. Kierra is a leader in the reproductive justice and progressive movements and has lifted up the value of of regional and cross-movement collaborations to foster youth leadership development that will strengthen the pro-choice progressive base in crucial communities in the United States. In over a decade at Choice USA, Kierra transformed Choice USA's image to a youth-led and youth focused organization. Media includes: New York Times, RH Reality Check, Feministing.com, Newsweek, Fox News and National Public Radio.

President; Publisher

For over three decades, Eleanor Smeal has led efforts for women's equality in the United States and was the first to identify the "gender gap" -- the difference in the way women and men vote -- and popularized its usage in election and polling analyses to enhance women's voting clouts. Ms. Smeal is the co-founder of The Feminist Majority Foundation and has served as President since its inception. Ms. Smeal has been at the forefront of almost every major women's right victory - from the integration of newspaper help-wanted ads to the passage of landmark legislation, including the Violence Against Women Act and Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. As the President of Now, Smeal led the drive to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. Extensive media experience.

Fellow - Gender, Extremism, and Engagement

Ilyse Hogue is President of NARAL Pro-Choice America. Ilyse is a frequent guest on network and cable news shows including MSNBC, PBS, CNN and Fox News as an expert on the political and policy landscape for reproductive freedom. She writes regular commentary for CNN.com and The Nation, and has had dozens of opinion pieces published in local and national outlets including Politico.

President & Chief Strategist

Atima Omara is the President of the Young Democrats of America (YDA), the nation’s largest youth partisan organization. Atima has worked over a decade in Democratic and progressive politics and for her work was recognized as Jet Magazine’s 2013 “40 under 40” and Ebony Magazine’s 2013 “Power 100”. Her writings have been featured at the Huffington Post, Ebony Magazine, Ms. Magazine, Women’s Enews, the Shriver Report, RH Reality Check, Fem2pt0, and Bitch Flicks. In addition to Young Democrats of America, Atima is an active member of local, state, and national women’s organizations as a board member of Emerge Virginia, Planned Parenthood Metro Washington, and the DC Abortion Fund.

General Counsel and Senior Advisor for Education

Neena Chaudhry is Senior Counsel and Director of Equal Opportunities in Athletics at the National Women's Law Center, where she has focused on gender equity in education and health/reproductive rights issues affecting women and girls. Ms. Chaudhry has worked to advance women’s health and reproductive rights through advocacy and public education, including helping produce the Center’s landmark women’s health report card entitled Making the Grade on Women’s Health: A National and State-by-State Report Card, and leading the effort to produce an issue-specific report card entitled Women and Smoking: A National and State-by-State Report Card.

Founder/Distinguished Lecturer

Shanelle Matthews is a Communications Strategist and Board member of the National Network of Abortion Funds. Shanelle is the co-founder of Black Women's Birthing Justice (BWBJ), a collective of African-American, African, Caribbean and multiracial women who are committed to transforming birthing experiences for Black women. She is co-editor of Birthing Justice — Saving Our Lives, an anthology of critical essays and personal testimonies exploring childbirth from a radical social justice perspective, slated for print in the fall 2015. Media includes: Al Jazeera, CNN, NPR, San Francisco Chronicle, Sacramento Bee, Ebony Magazine, The Root.

Director, Policy & Government Affairs, Liberty Division

Jessica Arons is the President and CEO of Reproductive Health Technologies Project. Jessica currently serves on the advisory board of Law Students for Reproductive Justice, and she is a former board member of the D.C. Abortion Fund and the Virginia ACLU. Prior to joining RHTP, she served as the Director of the Women’s Health & Rights program at the Center for American Progress. Media includes: MSNBC, Fox News, NPR, Clear Channel radio, The Baltimore Sun, The Nation, Politico

Co-Founder

Cecile Richards is the President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund. Ms. Richards, leads a national organization that has worked nearly for 100 years to build a healthier and safer world for women and teens. Under her leadership, the number of Planned Parenthood supporters has doubled, reaching more than seven million. Ms. Richards is a frequent speaker and commentator on issues related to women’s rights, reproductive health, and sex education, and is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post. She currently serves on the board of the Ford Foundation. Media includes: The Rachel Maddow Show, Andrea Mitchell Reports, Melissa Harris-Perry, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Glamour, Marie Claire

Professor Emerita of sociology, U.C. Davis; Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, U.California, San Francisco

Carole Joffe, PhD is a professor at the Bixby for Global Reproductive Health in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. In 2013, Professor Joffe was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Society of Family Planning, and in 2010, she was named the Irwin Kushner Lecturer by the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals. Professor Joffe has written widely on reproductive health services and politics for both academic and general audiences. Her books include: Doctors of Conscience: The Struggle to Provide Abortion before and after Roe v Wade (1996);  Dispatches from the Abortion Wars: The Costs of Fanaticism to Doctors, Patients and the Rest of Us (2010); and The Regulation of Sexuality: Experiences of Family Planning Workers (1986). Media includes: New York Times, Washington Post, NPR

A Founder and former Board Chair, Director of International Medical Consulting

Dr. Suzanne T. Poppema founded and is the former Board Chair of Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health (PRCH). Dr. Poppema serves as Director of International Medical Consulting and is a retired Associate Clinical Professor in Family Medicine at the University of Washington. Dr. Poppema’s clinical experience includes 15 years as the medical director of an abortion clinic in the Pacific Northwest, as well as a decade working in family practice. In 1996, Dr. Poppema chronicled her experiences as an abortion provider in her book, Why I Am An Abortion Doctor. Media includes: NPR, Nightline, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle

CEO & Co-founder, Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Sophia Yen is an adolescent medicine specialist and reproductive rights advocate. Dr. Yen founded the Silver Ribbon Campaign to Trust Women in 2010. She served on the boards of the Center for Reproductive Rights, the C4 of Planned Parenthood Golden Gate and the California Abortion Rights Action League. She is an Assistant Professor at Stanford Medical School in the Division of Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics. Media includes: Oprah Radio, View from the Bay, San Jose Mercury News, Good Housekeeping

Author and Reproductive Justice Advocate

Sarah Erdreich is the author of Generation Roe: Inside the Future of the Pro-Choice Movement and a Reproductive Justice Advocate in Washington, DC. Sarah has worked for several prominent pro-choice organizations; been published in The Jewish Daily Forward’s Sisterhood blog, On The Issues, Lilith, and RH Reality Check; and authored the Women’s Media Center’s “Media Guide to Covering Reproductive Issues.”

Sexologist Minister

The Reverend Debra Haffner is the director of Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing. Rev. Haffner was the chief executive officer of SIECUS, the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, from 1988 through May 2000. Rev. Haffner is the author of numerous books about teenage sexuality. Media includes: New York Times, NPR, Fox.

Co-Executive Director

Shivana Jorawar directs reproductive justice priorities for the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum (NAPAWF), the country's only national organization dedicated to social justice and human rights for Asian American and Pacific Islander women and girls. Additionally, she is a co-founder of Jahajee Sisters, a grassroots organization based in New York City creating a safer and more equitable society for Indo-Carbbean women through dialogue, arts, leadership development and grassroots organizing. Shivana co-chairs a chapter of Law Students for Reproductive Justice. Media includes: RHRealityCheck, Angry Asian Man, Associated Press, The Nation, The Hill.

Consultant

Cristina Page is a consultant for The Institute for Reproductive Health Access. She works to reverse the nation's severe abortion provider shortage, a threat to reproductive rights as imminent and dangerous as the reversal of Roe v. Wade. Her policy proposals have been adopted by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the New Jersey State legislature. Cristina authored How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America: Freedom, Politics and the War on Sex, which was the first to expose the right to life movement's campaigns against contraception, that “pro-life” strategies are leading to more and later abortions, and how the pro-choice movement’s efforts have decreased poverty, created happier, healthier families, and revolutionized the workforce. Media includes: New York Times, Fox News, Air America, BBC, Court TV.

Visiting Scholar

Tracy A. Weitz, PhD, MPA is the Director of the Advancing New Standard in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) program at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She focuses her research on innovative strategies to expand abortion provision in the United States. She has appeared twice on Rachel Maddow (MSNBC) and has been quoted in the New York Times, Salon, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Her research on abortion has been published in numerous academic peer-reviewed journals including the American Journal of Public Health, Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, Contraception, and Journal of Women’s History.

CoFounder & Director

Emma Davidson is the Associate Director for Strategic Mobilization at the New Morning Foundation, leading the advocacy efforts to bring responsible reproductive health policies to South Carolina. Her work has been highlighted by the State and Post & Courier, ABC, NBC, and FOX.

President & CEO/Vicar

Katherine Ragsdale is the Executive Director of the progressive Political Research Associates. She also serves as Vicar of St. David’s Episcopal Church in Pepperell, MA. Rev. Dr. Ragsdale served for 17 years (7 of them as chair) on the national board of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. Rev. Dr. Ragsdale has been featured on NPR and PBS, has testified before the United States Congress as well as numerous state legislatures, and was a featured speaker at the 2004 March for Women’s Lives in Washington, DC. She currently sits on the national board of NARAL: Pro-Choice America.

Activist. Public Intellectual. Academic.

Loretta J. Ross is a co-founder and the former National Coordinator of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective, a network founded in 1997 of 80 women of color and allied organizations that work on reproductive justice issues to fulfill a need for a national network that would organize women of color in the reproductive justice movement. Her media experience includes: CNN, the Charlie Rose Show, BET, National Geographic Channel, and ABC News.

Principal

Aimée Thorne-Thomsen Aimée Thorne-Thomsen is the Vice President for Strategic Partnerships at Advocates for Youth, a national sexual and reproductive health and rights organization serving young people. She has an extensive background in communications, movement-building, and new media technologies across various social justice movements.. Media includes: The Washington Post, RH Reality Check, Feministing, Colorlines, Feministe

Executive Director

Tracey E. Vitchers serves as Director of Development & Operations at Sexual Health Innovation and is a feminist activist, writer and commentator. She also is Chair of the Board for Students Active For Ending Rape (SAFER), a national campus sexual violence prevention organization, and acted as SAFER's Communication Coordinator from November 2012 to June 2014. Media includes: The Huffington Post, MSNBC, Cosmopolitan.