In October, current and former workers from Planned Parenthood Southeast (PPSE)—one of Planned Parenthood’s regional affiliates—came forward with claims that the organization’s recently installed leadership didn’t support key elements of its mission, such as proudly providing abortion care or welcoming LGBTQ patients. Now, Autonomy News has learned that interim CEO Mairo Akposé told staff she would consider ending abortion care entirely at PPSE, and that dysfunction at the affiliate went even beyond what was previously reported.
Employees had already made several explosive allegations public, including that Akposé reportedly said in a meeting that “we talk about abortion too much.” An executive hired by Akposé asked in an email whether PPSE had ever worked with Students for Life—a prominent anti-abortion group. Another suggested the organization make a statement about the assassination of far-right activist and outspoken abortion rights opponent Charlie Kirk. Akposé also refused to use the correct pronouns of transgender and nonbinary staffers, even though she listed her own in her email signature.
Akposé has no experience in nonprofits, let alone in healthcare provision, workers said. Akposé joined PPSE as a human resources consultant in 2023, and the board named her interim CEO in July 2024. Since then, she has laid off nearly 20 staff members, including the organization’s entire policy team, its security and facilities manager, and its respected medical director. She only hired people she knew for executive roles, workers said. Akposé also canceled regular all-staff meetings and replaced them with quarterly town halls where staff could not ask questions. To some, it felt like a conservative infiltration.
A group of employees launched a social media campaign called “Save PPSE” to shine a light on what they considered mismanagement and hostility to abortion care in the affiliate, which covers Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. (PPSE no longer has physical clinics in Mississippi, however, after quietly closing its Hattiesburg health center last year during Akposé’s tenure, one former worker said.) Workers were so alarmed by the actions of this new affiliate leadership that they alerted Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), the national umbrella organization. PPFA either didn’t respond to their concerns, workers said, or brushed them off. The workers publicly called for the resignations of not only Akposé and those she hired, but also the nonprofit’s board members, who appointed Akposé to the role.
After employees’ public allegations garnered attention, the PPSE board said in October that it had retained an unnamed law firm to conduct an investigation. Last week, the board announced that this review found no merit to allegations against leadership or the board. In the statement, shared two days before Thanksgiving, the board said the claims were “baseless,” but it did acknowledge an “opportunity” to send a message that it wouldn’t waiver in access to abortion and reproductive healthcare. It also announced “new accountability and organizational improvements.”
The first accountability action listed in the statement is the launch of a nationwide search for a permanent CEO, suggesting Akposé won’t remain in the role long term. (The board also said she “will receive new key performance indicators for increased accountability.”) The next item is that the national organization's advocacy arm, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, will “take a more active role” in political work in Georgia and hire a state director. The previous Georgia state director was employed by PPSE.
Akposé laid that person off in September, along with other policy staff, citing budgetary constraints. She cut this role despite the fact that this year could be critical in terms of preserving what little abortion access remains in Georgia: Sources who spoke with Autonomy News expect Georgia Republicans to pursue a total abortion ban in the session starting in January, superseding the state’s current six-week limit. There’s also a high-stakes Senate race in which Democrat Jon Ossoff is seeking reelection, a contest that could decide control of the chamber.
Autonomy News contacted the PPSE board to ask which law firm conducted the investigation, whether the board had retained a search firm for a new CEO, and if the hiring of a new Georgia policy director meant that layoff was a mistake. PPSE’s board said that neither it nor affiliate leadership had a comment beyond existing public statements.
As for PPFA, a spokesperson told multiple news outlets that the national federation has no role in staffing at its nearly four dozen affiliates, which are their own independent nonprofits. “PPFA has no involvement in affiliate hiring or other personnel decisions,” vice president of communications Angela Vasquez-Giroux said in a statement to the Georgia Recorder. “The affiliate’s independent board of directors has the sole responsibility for personnel decisions concerning an affiliate CEO or other affiliate staff.”
Autonomy News asked PPFA when, if ever, it would step in to address concerns about decisions made by an affiliate board. A spokesperson said that while PPFA “can offer guidance and best practices related to hiring practices to affiliate boards and management, ultimately, the boards and management are the decision-makers related to personnel at their organizations.” We also asked the federation to explain why, if personnel decisions are made locally, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund will hire a Georgia state director. The spokesperson said the Action Fund “has a mandate to protect and expand rights and access across the country, and where a local advocacy organization is unable to support those national goals, the Action Fund has a responsibility to step in.” The spokesperson confirmed that, at this time, Georgia is the only state planned to have a director employed by the Action Fund, though that could change.
New allegations
In its November statement, the PPSE board said it invited those who raised concerns to be part of its investigation, but they “declined.” According to one former staffer, that isn’t the whole story.
Devon, who didn’t want to use their real name for fear of professional retaliation, said that Mitchell Robinson, a PPSE board member and chair of the special committee overseeing the investigation, contacted the Save PPSE campaign to ask if a representative wanted to participate. The campaign decided it didn’t want to identify any of its members, and told Robinson to speak to current staff and those laid off. According to Devon, the investigation did not interview any former staff, or any current staff not hired by Akposé.
“The whole thing felt like a farce, so the result was not super surprising,” Devon told Autonomy News. The only good news, to them, was the implication that Akposé’s days leading PPSE are numbered.
Another person familiar with PPSE’s operations said that existing news coverage hasn’t scratched the surface of everything that’s gone wrong under Akposé.
Cameron, who also asked not to be identified for fear of professional retaliation, said that once the board named Akposé interim CEO, she accused workers of fraud and waste, and suggested slashing staff and services to save money.
“She was like, ‘I don't know why nobody can tell me what anybody's job is,’ which is not true. She just didn't understand what anyone did, because she didn't understand health care or advocacy or education," Cameron said. “We had a lot of meetings where it felt very much like a DOGE situation in which everybody was forced over and over again to try to justify what their job was.”
Akposé focused heavily on generating revenue, Cameron added, to the point where she made suggestions that, if implemented, would harm patient care. ”She was like, ‘I don't understand why we need our [follow-up] nursing staff,’” they said. “They're not revenue-generating. Why do we need that?’” Not only are these nurses responsible for patient safety and follow-up care, Cameron noted, they’re also required to be an accredited Planned Parenthood affiliate.
"It felt very much like a DOGE situation in which everybody was forced over and over again to try to justify what their job was."
More alarmingly, Akposé suggested cutting abortion services. In Georgia—the only state in PPSE’s territory where abortion isn’t totally banned—PPSE had only offered medication abortion for some time. However, thanks to a grant, it resumed procedural abortions in early 2024, Cameron said. But after Akposé became interim CEO, Cameron recalled her asking, “Why was it that we were able to stop procedures before? Why are we able to do them again? What's our return on investment for that?” Staff explained several times that if the affiliate halted the care, it would need to repay the grant, which was worth several hundred thousand dollars. That was just one example of Akposé not seeming to understand how restricted grants work, a basic detail for a nonprofit administrator.
In early 2025, Akposé also expressed that she would stop abortions if given the chance, in order to limit what she viewed as potential legal risk from providing the care. “She said that, if there were such a time that PPFA would allow the affiliates to sign a waiver to not do abortion care, that she would sign it because she wouldn't want to take that risk on,” Cameron recalled.
Autonomy News was first to report the existence of such waivers in June. They would have allowed affiliates to halt abortions in order to remain in the Medicaid program under a federal budget provision “defunding” large abortion providers like Planned Parenthood. PPFA initially declined to confirm this reporting, only to say in September that waivers had been discussed but were now moot because of legal technicalities.
Akposé and her leadership team seemed happy to throw in the towel on abortion, and proceeded as if the proposed Georgia total abortion ban, House Bill 441, was a fait accompli, Cameron said. “There was a lot of talk as if, ‘OK, there's definitely going to be a total abortion ban in Georgia and how are we going to pivot? What services are we going to do?’ rather than fighting it,” they said. (Options discussed were primary care, menopause care, and vasectomies.)
Overall, Cameron wasn’t sure if ulterior motives were at play, but they couldn’t rule it out. “I don't know if some stuff is just sheer incompetence or sabotage,” they said.
And when multiple people contacted PPFA with concerns about Akposé, Cameron said Akposé found out, and responded in a retaliatory manner. “She would say things like, ‘somebody went behind my back,’” they said. “Anytime somebody talked to somebody, it would somehow get back to her, and so she would threaten all of the team.”
Current and former staff also raised concerns directly to the PPSE board, Devon and Cameron said, but some board members downplayed them. “I just don't think the board is accountable to anyone at all,” Cameron said.
Leaving Southern patients behind
Sources who spoke to Autonomy News say current leadership worsened relationships in the region and stepped back from important policy fights that would help people in the South.
Stephen Stetson was PPSE’s Alabama state director for four years starting in September 2021 until he was laid off this fall. He told Autonomy News that the period was marked by “turmoil” as the affiliate braced for the fall of Roe v. Wade and that, after Akposé was put in charge, PPSE was mired in “inaction and dysfunction.”
During that time, the affiliate closed the aforementioned clinic in Hattiesburg and, in 2023, it shuttered one in Mobile, Alabama, leaving just one health center in the state. Stetson said it was clear that PPSE was decreasing its advocacy in Mississippi and Alabama, but leadership continued to believe that Georgia—where the affiliate is headquartered—was important politically. Still, Stetson, who had worked under several interim leaders in just four years, said Akposé made major changes that didn't seem to align with the temporary designation.
“These conversations about budgets and priorities have always been sort of front and center of, ‘Are we going to stabilize? Are we going to figure out a post-Dobbs way to both do the public policy and advocacy work?’” Stetson said. “But nobody really believed that they would fully disinvest and fire the entire public policy staff.” In September, Akposé did just that.
Stetson said the organization was able to make meaningful changes in people’s lives, despite a “dangerous and horrific” political climate. “We had really great wins in Alabama this last [legislative] session, and that's part of what makes this disinvestment so heartbreaking,” he said. According to Stetson, PPSE was part of a coalition that helped pass multiple bills, including paid parental leave for state employees; presumptive Medicaid eligibility for pregnant people to help them get prenatal care faster; and removing sales tax on diapers, formula, maternity clothing, and menstrual hygiene products.
"Nobody really believed that they would fully disinvest and fire the entire public policy staff."
“It's very unfortunate that Planned Parenthood Southeast has chosen to scale back in a time when funders, supporters, and people who believe in Planned Parenthood's mission could be rallying to a cause, instead of watching something wither away,” he said, adding, “Our brand new, sparkling, gorgeous building in Birmingham just opened in 2020. It is a wonderful, multimillion-dollar building. It's a shame to see that investment plagued by leadership ineptitude.”
Stetson added that, “In a world where information has not been forthcoming, a lot of the folks worried about the direction of the organization are trying to alert donors and supporters and members and people who might be in a position to put some pressure on the board.”
An abortion fund cuts ties
The PPSE board statement also noted that it would work to “strengthen community relationships”—an implicit acknowledgment that such ties had been damaged.
Yellowhammer Fund, an abortion fund serving Alabama, Mississippi, and the Florida Panhandle, announced in late October that it would halt funding, travel support, and referrals for callers with appointments at all Planned Parenthood affiliates in the U.S.—not just at PPSE.
Healthcare access director Kelsea McLain explained in a LinkedIn post and to Autonomy News that—given the accusations from former staff—the fund was worried about the security of patient and donor information, as well as the personal safety of Yellowhammer employees. She said the organization would not resume funding until PPSE leadership changed, and PPFA publicly addressed concerns about the affiliate.
McLain told Autonomy News that the biggest factor in making the decision was whether halting funding would harm the fund’s clients. In McLain’s estimation, it would not, because Yellowhammer’s callers haven’t been able to rely on PPSE for years. “I'm going to be very honest,” she said. “Planned Parenthood has not been a viable place for people to seek abortion care in Alabama since 2019 when I started at the fund.”
Many PPSE patients calling Yellowhammer between 2019 and 2022 would report that their appointments got pushed out a week or more at the last minute due to vague provider scheduling issues, McLain said. Rather than refer these patients to independent clinics that could see them the next day, PPSE would reschedule them. Then, in April 2022, PPSE halted abortions and canceled existing appointments at its Alabama and Georgia clinics. (It had stopped providing abortions in Mississippi years earlier.) It resumed abortions in Georgia a few weeks later, but not in Alabama. A total abortion ban took effect there in June of that year, following the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.
"Planned Parenthood has not been a viable place for people to seek abortion care in Alabama since 2019 when I started at [Yellowhammer Fund]."
McLain said that in 2025, Alabama and Mississippi callers have told Yellowhammer that PPSE has scheduled them for appointments in Georgia then North Carolina—states with heavy restrictions and 6- and 12-week bans, respectively. Patients have been told they’ll get counseling in Georgia, then travel again to have their abortion in North Carolina. In other words, they must travel twice out of their home states for care. From Yellowhammer’s perspective, there is a much simpler option: arranging a trip to Illinois. “Patients were overjoyed when they found out that they actually didn't have to go on this big, epic quest to receive their abortion care,” McLain said. It’s still a trek, but one that’s less complicated because it involves fewer hotels, airports, and miles traveled.
Yellowhammer wasn’t funding many appointments at PPSE anyway, but McLain felt it was important to send a message by publicly halting funding. “Making a decision to cut ties with Planned Parenthood, for us at Yellowhammer Fund in the capacity of supporting Alabamians and Mississippians, actually caused no harm,” she said. “I think that's something really important to lift up.”
“I realized that there was an opportunity to be a part of pushing Planned Parenthood, because they won't listen to these smaller funds, because they don't care about anyone unless you have power. And I think that, in itself, is a really disturbing reality that we all need to confront and talk about,” she said. “But Yellowhammer Fund has power, and we are always about using that power for a lot of good.”
This story was edited by Garnet Henderson and copy edited and fact checked by Nandita Raghuram.
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