Resources - Public leadership Institute

TOOLS & RESOURCES

Additional Resources

This section provides direct access to issue experts and additional resources to help policymakers, advocates, and coalition partners advance the policy solutions outlined in this playbook. Inclusion in the additional resources listing does not imply that any individual or entity endorses all the policies in this playbook.

John Ayers, PhD, MA

Vice Chief of Innovation and Associate Professor, Division of Infectious Disease and Global Public Health, University of California San Diego

Public health researcher; co-led the first national study analyzing the services and operations of crisis pregnancy centers across all 50 states to document the services advertised. Co- creator of ChoiceWatch.org.

Mitchell Creinin, MD

Distinguished Professor, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, University of California Davis Health

Leading researcher and professor; worked on the only controlled clinical study on “abortion pill reversal” promoted by UPCs. Featured commentator in the UPC documentary, Preconceived, which focused on UPCs' medical and ethical practices.

Maria Gallo, PhD

Professor and Chair of the Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, UNC Chapel Hill

Epidemiologist focused on sexual and reproductive health; has studied UPC claims around STD testing, ultrasounds, medical disinformation, and prenatal care.

Robin Marty

Executive Director, WAWC Healthcare (formerly West Alabama Women’s Center)

Expert on the provision of abortion and comprehensive pregnancy care in states with abortion bans and contrasts evidence-based services with limited care at UPCs. Member of the Alabama Maternal Health Task Force.

Roxanne McNellis (Sutocky)

Director of Public Affairs, The Womens Centers

Public affairs and communications expert for a multi-state medical practice targeted by extremist UPC tactics. Specializes in community engagement, story collection, and strategies to counter anti-abortion extremism at state and local levels.

Lisa Perriera, MD, MPH

Chief Medical Director, The Womens Centers; Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Thomas Jefferson University; Board Member, The Women’s Law Project

Practicing OB-GYN and advocate with direct experience caring for patients who have encountered UPCs; leader of a multistate medical practice targeted by extremist UPC tactics and active supporter of state-level strategies to reduce the harms they cause.

Andrea Swartzendurber, PhD, MPH

Associate Professor, Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department, University of Georgia College of Public Health

Public health researcher; co-developer and lead of CPC Map, an interactive geolocated national directory of CPCs operating in the US and the most scientifically-rigorous, comprehensive, and up-to-date directory of CPCs; has authored more CPC publications than any other scientist.

Crisis Pregnancy Centers in the United States: Post- Dobbs Characteristics and Changes

American Journal of Public Health, June 2025

Crisis Pregnancy Center Map

Characterizing Services Advertised on Crisis Pregnancy Center Websites

JAMA Internal Medicine, December 2, 2024

Crisis pregnancy center practices suggest ‘need for greater scrutiny’

Healio, December 3, 2024

States funding anti-abortion clinics have some of highest rates of maternal and infant mortality in US, report finds

The Independent, July 26, 2024

Pregnancy Centers Issue Brief

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 2023

Designed to Deceive: CPCs and Non-Diagnostic Ultrasound

The Alliance: State Advocates for Women’s Rights & Gender Equality October 2021

Crisis Pregnancy Centers and Sonograms

Social Science Research Council’s The Immanent Frame, August 7, 2020

Crisis Pregnancy Centers in the United States: Lack of Adherence to Medical and Ethical Practice Standards; A Joint Position Statement of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine and the North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology

Journal of Adolescent Medicine, December 2019

Adolescent Health Groups Warn of Risks Anti-Choice Crisis Pregnancy Centers Pose to Young People

Rewire News, October 30, 2019

Why Crisis Pregnancy Centers are Legal but Unethical

AMA Journal of Ethics, March 2018

Michelle Kuppersmith

Executive Director, Campaign for Accountability

Accountability watchdog leader; filed complaints in multiple states demanding investigations into UPCs’ misuse of patient data.

Corynne McSherry, JD

Legal Director, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)

Legal director at EFF; led efforts urging state attorneys general to investigate UPC privacy violations and deceptive data practices.

Carmel Shachar, JD, MPH

Assistant Clinical Professor of Law and Faculty Director, Health Law and Policy Clinic at the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation, Harvard Law School (CHLPI)

Nationally recognized health law expert; writes extensively about HIPAA loopholes that allow UPCs to collect and misuse sensitive personal health data.

Addressing The HIPAA Blind Spot For Crisis Pregnancy Centers

Health Affairs, November 15, 2024

Crisis pregnancy center's forms give rare insight into anti-abortion practices

They promise to protect health data but aren’t bound by federal privacy law. NBC News, October 13, 2024

Health Data Breach at America’s Largest Crisis Pregnancy Org

Heartbeat International is sharing women's private health information Abortion Every Day, May 30, 2024

Senate Democratic Women Respond to New Senate Republican Legislation to Collect Data on Pregnant Women Through New Government Website

U.S. Senator Patty Murray Press Release, May 13, 2024

Our “Preconceived” Notions of HIPAA

Bill of Health: Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School, March 9, 2024

Watchdog group asks 5 attorneys general to investigate crisis pregnancy center privacy practices

NBC News, April 23, 2024

Who owns digital health data? HIPAA privacy myths put women at risk

SC Media, September 12, 2022

Facebook and Anti-Abortion Clinics Are Collecting Highly Sensitive Info on Would-Be Patients

Reveal News, June 15, 2022

The Anti-Abortion Movement’s Digital Strategies to Track Pregnant Women

Women’s Media Center, December 15, 2021

A Documentation of Data Exploitation in Sexual and Reproductive Rights

Privacy International, April 21, 2020

Andrea Grimes

Vice President of Research, Reproaction

Journalist and researcher; supervises UPC investigations and documents deceptive practices, especially in Texas. Writes extensively for media.

Jenifer McKenna

Senior Advisor, Reproductive Health and Freedom Watch

Nationally recognized expert on CPCs; led the first multi-state investigation documenting deceptive UPC tactics. Now advises efforts to expose misleading practices.

Tara Murtha

Director of Impact and Engagement, Women’s Law Project

Policy advocate and author; co-author of Designed to Deceive: A Study of Crisis Pregnancy Centers in Nine States, which detailed UPC deception.

Subasri Narasimhan, PhD, MPH

Assistant Professor, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University

Public health social scientist; research includes examining how UPCs use targeted online marketing to appear credible and mislead communities of color.

Annie Romano

Senior Special Projects Coordinator, Reproaction

Researcher and writer; maintains Reproaction's anti-abortion pregnancy center database.

Andrea Swartzendruber, PhD, MPH

Associate Professor, College of Public Health, University of Georgia College of Public Health

Public health researcher; co-founded CPCMap, the first and only scientifically rigorous national directory of UPCs. Lead researcher on multiple scholarly studies of UPC practices.

Carly Thomsen, PhD

Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing and the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, Rice University

Mixed-methods researcher in the social sciences, humanities, and arts; research includes: quantitative analyses of CPCs in terms of race, class, and place; sonograms; mobile CPCs; anti-CPC activism. Provided expert testimony for Vermont’s legislation regulating CPCs.

Google Helps Anti-Abortion Centers Deceive Women Searching for Ultrasound Appointments

Campaign for Accountability, April 17, 2025

Profiting from Deceit: How Google Profits from Anti-choice Ads Distorting Searches for Reproductive Healthcare

Center for Countering Digital Hate, June 15, 2023

Google Serves Anti-Abortion Clinic Ads that Violate its Policies

Tech Transparency Project, September 29, 2022

Google directs users to anti-abortion ‘fake clinics’: 1 in 10 abortion search results in “trigger law” states lead to anti-abortion fake clinics

Center for Countering Digital Hate, June 9, 2022

Pregnant? Need Help? They Have an Agenda

The New York Times, May 12, 2022

Facebook Profits from Anti-Abortion Misinformation While Suppressing Medically Accurate Abortion Facts

Ms., November 30, 2021

Designed to Deceive: A Study of the Crisis Pregnancy Center Industry in Nine States

The Alliance: State Advocates for Women’s Rights & Gender Equality, October 2021

Truth and Transparency in Crisis Pregnancy Centers

Women’s Health Reports, July 27, 2020

Crisis Pregnancy Centers: Faith Centers Operating in Bad Faith

Journal of General Internal Medicine, October 18, 2018

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