Fired staff sue Planned Parenthood Southeast, alleging leadership crisis

Six former Planned Parenthood Southeast employees are suing the nonprofit organization, claiming they were unlawfully fired in retaliation for raising concerns about the hostility and bias of its conservative former leaders.

The plaintiffs include the organization’s former Georgia state director, Kaylah Oates-Marable; former public policy and organizing manager, Hannah Davis; and former director of education, Jessica Swanson. They say they were fired in late September last year alongside several others, two weeks after filing internal complaints.

Planned Parenthood Southeast and its parent organization, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, are liable for violating the Civil Rights Act, according to the lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in Atlanta. It is the third job discrimination suit filed in that court by former Planned Parenthood Southeast staff in the last six weeks.

“These six brave women tried to save Planned Parenthood Southeast,” Artur Davis, a lawyer for the latest plaintiffs, said in a news release. “The many champions and funders of the Planned Parenthood community deserve to know that something went badly wrong in their chapter down south.”

In a statement Wednesday, Planned Parenthood Southeast told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution it is “committed to delivering affordable, compassionate reproductive care and sex education across Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi — including abortion care where allowable under state law.”

“We strive to create a professional work environment where every member of our team feels valued and respected,” the Atlanta-headquartered nonprofit said.

Allegations by staff last year that Planned Parenthood Southeast was abandoning its mission under the leadership of conservative executives prompted its board to hire a law firm to investigate. In their lawsuit, the six plaintiffs said they were not interviewed or asked to explain their firings as part of the investigation and that no associated report has been released.

The plaintiffs claimed the nonprofit’s former CEO and executive director were hostile toward transgender employees, openly opposed abortion and cut resources for LGBTQ+ programs and events. They said their allegations are supported by recorded conversations, among other things.

“I’ve wanted to work for Planned Parenthood since I was 17 years old,” Oates-Marable said in the news release. “Now that dream is a nightmare not just for me but for everyone who counted on PPSE when there was nowhere else to turn.”

The organization said Wednesday that it believes every person deserves to make their own healthcare decisions, including whether to continue a pregnancy, and that it is proud to provide high-quality care to the LGBTQ+ community, free of judgment.

“And we will never waiver in our commitment to building a world where equitable access to care is available for all,” it said.

The other plaintiffs in the case are Jaylen Black, the former vice president of communications and marketing; Kim Luong, a former Georgia-based community organizer; and LaTerria Shelby, the former Mississippi-based health educator and outreach coordinator.

Shelby said she was fired in July last year after raising internal concerns that Planned Parenthood Southeast was abandoning significant parts of its public health portfolio, including outreach to the LGBTQ+ community.

Luong alleged she was fired a couple of months later, alongside Oates-Marable, Davis, Swanson and others, following similar internal complaints.

Black said she was fired in December after reporting the mistreatment of a transgender employee and concerns about the nonprofit’s policy changes.

The lawsuit points blame at former CEO Mairo Akpose, who left the nonprofit in December, and former executive director Karen Rene, a former City Council member in East Point who is vying for a seat on the Fulton County Commission. The complaint does not name Akpose or Rene as defendants, but it accuses them of destroying the nonprofit’s culture.

Akpose and Rene did not comment Wednesday on the allegations.

Akpose is separately suing Planned Parenthood Southeast in the same Atlanta court, claiming she was subject to employment discrimination and retaliation. She is representing herself in the case, filed last week. Akpose alleged she received unfair treatment as a Black employee and a “practicing Christian,” and was unlawfully terminated.