Embattled Planned Parenthood Southeast president resigns

The interim president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Southeast has resigned, a letter from the board of directors to staff said.

Mairo Akpose’s resignation comes about two months after a group of former and current Planned Parenthood Southeast staff and board members launched a website and Instagram account making a variety of claims, including alleging Akpose expressed conservative views on gender identity and was not fully supportive of Planned Parenthood’s stances on reproductive rights.

Following the accusations, the board announced it had launched an investigation.

“I’m writing to share that Mairo Akpose has stepped down as interim CEO of PPSE and the Board of Directors has accepted her resignation,” board chair Karen Doolittle wrote Tuesday in an email obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “The current executive leadership team stays in position managing the day-to-day operations while the Board, as announced previously, reviews its strategic plan and conducts a leadership search.”

Planned Parenthood Southeast did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The “SAVE PPSE” Instagram account backed by former and current employees had called for the resignations of Akpose, staff she had hired by and the board of directors that approved her hiring to step down.

When the claims were made public in October, Akpose released a statement saying her Christian faith “grounds my belief in bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom — in every person’s right to access quality, compassionate care, including abortion care, and to receive accurate information that empowers them to make the best choices for their lives.”