A Matter of Facts — February 2025

From Our Leadership

Last month, the board of directors announced our appointment as co-presidents and CEOs of the Guttmacher Institute, following a comprehensive global search. We are deeply honored to guide Guttmacher’s vital work to protect and advance sexual and reproductive health and rights. Reproductive freedom faces unprecedented threats in the US and worldwide, and the urgency of our mission has never been greater.

Our vision for opposing the relentless attacks on these rights is grounded in agility and partnership. We are fortunate to lead an exceptional organization dedicated to rigorous research that informs policy and amplifies marginalized voices. We also rely on working closely with our allies and on supporters like you, whose advocacy and assistance are essential to defending the right to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care. Your commitment fuels our efforts to uncover facts and defend evidence-based policies. Together, we will fight back.

As we move forward in this role, we pledge to uphold Guttmacher’s mission with integrity and impact. The road ahead is challenging, but with your support, we’ll hold firm, defend reproductive rights and continue the fight for progress and a more just future.

Thank you,

Destiny Lopez & Jonathan Wittenberg

Co-Presidents and CEOs

Behind the Scenes

The newest members of Guttmacher’s board

Guttmacher has been lucky to have had so many capable, dedicated leaders on our board of directors over the years. Our current board of 24 movers and shakers provides the vision and strategic thinking necessary for the rest of us to employ our tactical talents. Members contribute three years of voluntary service to the organization, meaning that the board replenishes itself regularly with different expertise and energy.

This past October, the board refreshed its roster with eight new members. The new recruits are a diverse cadre of people who bring experience in the realms of human rights law, economics, sexuality education, obstetrics and gynecology, technology, program management, financial planning and other professional specialties. We caught up with several of them to ask a little about their backgrounds and how they anticipate positioning Guttmacher for what promises to be a challenging time for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

Paula Avila-Guillen

• Based in: New York City
• Vocation: Executive Director of the Women’s Equality Center
• Main nonwork pursuit: spending time with my 4-year-old
• First learned about Guttmacher...through activism and research on reproductive rights in Latino America
• Board committee: Finance
• Superpower you bring to the board: relentless optimism
• Organizational initiative you’re most excited about: how research is applied in policy work, both domestically and globally

Lubna Bhayani

• Based in: Nairobi, Kenya
• Vocation: Director of Partnerships for Africa at the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet
• Main nonwork pursuit: making sure my two boys realize women and men are equal
• First learned about Guttmacher...during the Guttmacher-Lancet Commission and the ensuing report, published in 2018
• Board committee: Investment
• Superpower you bring to the board: governance and fundraising skills
• Organizational initiative you’re most excited about: how we will tackle, uphold and continue to champion SRHR through the next four years, and in particular ensuring continued funding for access to abortion across the Global South

Carolyn Florey

• Based in: Manila, the Philippines
• Vocation: Digital Development Specialist at the Asian Development Bank
• Main nonwork pursuit: spending time with my three kiddos (ages 6, 4, 1) and competing as an endurance athlete. I just finished the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Taupō, New Zealand.
• First learned about Guttmacher...from current board member Allana Welch, whom I worked with at the United Nations Foundation years ago
• Board committees: Nominating and Governance
• Superpower you bring to the board: understanding of organizational management, strategic thinking and analysis, and governance
• Organizational initiative you’re most excited about: Guttmacher’s policy and advocacy work, especially in the rapidly deteriorating SRHR environment that we are in right now, and its work outside of the United States

Beth Fredrick

• Based in: Baltimore, Maryland
• Vocation: independent consultant
• Main nonwork pursuit: leadership, teaching and mentorship of advocates, NGOs and public health professionals to achieve their goals for SRHR
• First learned about Guttmacher...in 1985, when I applied for and secured my first position with the Guttmacher Institute, working with the communications and development department
• Board committees: Nominating and Governance
• Superpower you bring to the board: no fear of the unknown—and a vast and varied network to foster new ideas, constructive criticism, and new ventures and adventures
• Organizational initiative you’re most excited about: new ways in which to use communications and evidence to protect, secure and preserve health and rights

Pamela Schneider

• Based in: Central Florida
• Vocation: retired, philanthropist
• Main nonwork pursuit: traveling and spending time with my horse to improve (to the extent possible at my age!) my equestrian skills
• First learned about Guttmacher...years ago, when I used the website to access data for discussions around reproductive rights public policy issues
• Board committee: Audit
• Superpower you bring to the board: an unusual background as a CPA with a counseling degree
• Organizational initiative you’re most excited about: continuing to conduct research on the health impacts of restrictive reproductive legislation across many US states in the wake of the Dobbs decision

Fast Facts

Counseling and waiting period requirements for abortion

Twenty-three US states require people to receive counseling and to then wait for a period of time before getting an abortion. These medically unnecessary requirements don’t make abortion care safer. Rather, these laws exist to hinder people from getting an abortion or to compel them to change their minds.

How do you figure? Because, when they’re coupled with in-person counseling requirements, waiting periods necessitate two visits: the first for counseling and the second for the abortion. For people already struggling to arrange travel, child care and other appointment logistics, such onerous rules can prevent them from being able to get their abortion in time...or at all.

Our recently updated fact sheet on counseling and waiting period requirements shows exactly which states force abortion patients to wait or to be told about fetal development, abortion alternatives, procedure descriptions or other issues. For example:

• 14 states require in-person counseling
• 9 states require providers to share misinformation about medication abortion
• 6 states make patients wait 72 hours before they can receive their abortion
• 13 states tell patients that abortion cannot be coerced

Isn’t more information a good thing? Not when it’s biased, medically inaccurate or irrelevant for getting timely, quality care. Again, these laws are intended to deter patients, most of whom are already certain they want an abortion by the time they contact a clinic.

Visit our State Laws & Policies series for more details on these and other laws affecting sexual and reproductive health and rights in the United States.

We Recommend... 

• Development associate Rhea Goveas calls Jessamine Chan’s dystopian novel, The School for Good Mothers, “a real page-turner.”
• Jonathan Wittenberg, our co-president and CEO, enjoys The Ahaki Podcast, produced by our Ugandan advocacy partner Afya na Haki (Ahaki) and offering an Africentric perspective on sexual and reproductive health and rights.
• The New Yorker published a must-read article on abortion doctor Warren Hearn, according to Maibe Ponet, vice president for Communications & Publications.
• The Oscar-nominated short film Red, White and Blue, about a woman who must travel across state lines for an abortion, “is incredible and heart-shattering,” says senior digital communications assistant Gigi Singer.

Notions

Sarah Parker is executive director of Voices of Florida, a Black- and queer-led organization dedicated to defending human rights and reproductive freedom. As part of the Floridians Protecting Freedom coalition, Parker worked to advance Amendment 4, a ballot measure to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. After the measure won a majority of support last November but fell short of Florida’s high bar for passing a constitutional amendment, Parker shared a powerful reminder that the fight for reproductive freedom is far from over.