The State of Reproductive & Transgender Health Care After Dobbs

Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen is the executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), soon to be Advocates for Trans Equality (A4TE), and is a policy, advocacy, and messaging expert. Rodrigo is a proud Cuban American transgender man, with a career spanning over 16 years, in policy and wide-ranging experience in the LGBTQI movement that has covered field organizing, volunteer training, leadership development, fundraising, and media advocacy. Rodrigo's expertise in strategic messaging on transgender issues has established him as a subject matter expert, constantly sought out by advocates, lawmakers, and the media for his ability to craft persuasive messaging to advance transgender rights with audiences across the political spectrum. In 2019, he joined NCTE as deputy executive director for policy and action, and in 2021, he assumed the role of executive director. In January 2024, NCTE revealed plans to merge with the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF), resulting in the formation of a new entity called Advocates for Trans Equality (A4TE), with Heng-Lehtinen continuing in the role of executive director.

Skye Perryman is a lawyer, advocate, and leader with a track record of taking on and winning critical fights that advance democratic values, stop abuses of power, and improve the wellbeing of people and communities. In June 2021 she was named president and CEO of Democracy Forward Foundation, which is a national organization that advances democracy and progress through the law, policy, and public education. Prior to that, Skye was chief legal officer and general counsel of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, where she oversaw its broad portfolio of legal, policy, and public affairs work and led a number of groundbreaking initiatives that enhanced access and equity in health care. Including a legal strategy that enabled distribution of mifepristone by mail for the first time in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the wake of Dobbs, Skye is serving as counsel to the generic manufacturer of mifepristone in a number of matters aimed at preserving and expanding access to reproductive health care and is counsel of record for the American College of Emergency Physicians and numerous other national medical groups in the current case pending before the US Supreme Court concerning the provision of emergency abortion care under EMTALA. She holds a Juris Doctor with honors from the Georgetown University Law Center and a Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude from Baylor University.

Laurie Sobel is an associate director of the Women’s Health Policy Program at KFF. Her work addresses the impact of major health policy issues on women and girls, with an emphasis on insurance coverage, and access challenges facing women who are underserved or marginalized. Ms. Sobel leads KFF’s work tracking the implementation of contraceptive coverage, state abortion laws, and legal challenges involving access to reproductive health care. She is the author of numerous publications explaining complex rapidly changing reproductive health care legislation, regulations, and litigation. Ms. Sobel is a frequent speaker at national conferences and has appeared and been quoted as an independent expert by major national media outlets. Prior to joining KFF, she was a senior attorney at Consumers Union focused on health policy issues. Early in her career, she was a legal aid lawyer representing Medicaid patients. Ms. Sobel holds a J.D. from UCLA School of Law and a bachelor’ degree. from Cornell University.

Mary Ziegler, Martin Luther King Professor of Law at UC Davis, is one of the world’s leading legal historians of the abortion debate in the United States. She is the author of six books on social movement struggles around reproduction. Her first book: After Roe, appeared with Harvard University Press in 2015 and received the Thomas J. Wilson Prize for the best manuscript in any discipline. Her most recent book is titled Roe: The History of a National Obsession. She is on the board of directors of the American Society for Legal History and is one of a select group of historians advising the Smithsonian on the creation of its American Women’s History Museum. Her new project, on the history of struggles over fetal personhood, won her a Guggenheim Fellowship for 2023-2024. Mary frequently educates the public about the history behind contemporary struggles over sex and reproduction, on outlets like CNN, the New York Times, NPR and PBS NewsHour.

Celine Castronuovo is a reporter on the health team at Bloomberg Industry Group covering trends in state health policy and litigation. Her reporting includes the latest bills being introduced in state legislatures on reproductive health, gender-affirming care, drug pricing, and other issues impacting the health-care industry. Prior to this, she spent two years reporting on the FDA's medical product regulations, as well as federal drug pricing policies and litigation.

Karina Taylor is the Product Manager of Government Contracting at Bloomberg Government. She is adept in aligning customer values with product initiatives for an enhanced user-experience.