Six former Planned Parenthood Southeast employees have sued the organization, alleging they were fired after challenging a retreat from abortion-rights advocacy and LGBTQ outreach and raising concerns about workplace discrimination.
The Atlanta-based affiliate serves Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi. An amended complaint filed Oct. 19 in federal court in Atlanta expanded a lawsuit initially brought in September by former Georgia community organizer Kim Luong.
The lawsuit names Planned Parenthood Southeast and Planned Parenthood Federation of America as defendants. The former employees seek damages for alleged retaliation under federal civil rights law. One plaintiff also alleges disability discrimination.
The allegations center on decisions made under former CEO Mairo Akpose and former Executive Director Karen Rene. Neither is named as a defendant in the employees’ lawsuit, and the allegations have not been established in court.
According to the complaint, Akpose told senior staff after the 2024 presidential election that she wanted to make the affiliate’s mission less focused on abortion rights. The filing alleges she told employees, “we talk about abortion too much, we focus too much on it.”
The former employees also allege that leadership directed staff to stop partnering in Pride events and withdraw from LGBTQ-focused public health campaigns. They say they challenged those decisions and raised concerns about conduct they believed amounted to workplace discrimination.
Planned Parenthood Southeast defended its commitment to patients and employees in a statement provided to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The organization said 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 organization said.
The plaintiffs are Luong, former Georgia State Director Kaylah Oates-Marable, former public policy and organizing manager Hannah Davis, former education director Jessica Swanson, former Mississippi health educator and outreach coordinator LaTerria Shelby, and former communications and marketing executive Jaylen Black.
Oates-Marable, Davis and Luong allege they raised concerns about comments Rene made concerning their bodies and decisions about having children. According to the complaint, the affiliate’s male Alabama state director told Oates-Marable he had not faced similar questions about his child-rearing plans.
The complaint says Oates-Marable reported the differences to human resources in September 2025. On Sept. 30, the organization fired her, Davis, Luong, Swanson and the Alabama director, according to the filing. The Alabama director is not named and is not among the plaintiffs.
Shelby alleges her position was eliminated in July 2025 after she questioned the cancellation of LGBTQ health outreach events. She says the organization attributed the decision to budget constraints.
Black alleges she raised concerns about the treatment of a transgender employee and the organization’s policy direction. She also claims the organization violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by terminating her in December 2025 rather than accommodating mobility limitations following serious injuries.
The board hired a law firm to investigate leadership concerns in fall 2025. The plaintiffs allege none of them was interviewed or asked to provide a written explanation of their departures during that investigation.
Akpose left the organization in December 2025. In a separate lawsuit filed Oct. 14, she alleged Planned Parenthood Southeast discriminated against her based on race and religion and unlawfully terminated her.
The six former employees seek a jury trial, lost wages and benefits, compensatory and punitive damages, and attorney fees.