Six former Planned Parenthood Southeast employees have filed a federal lawsuit alleging they were fired in 2025 after raising concerns about changes to the organization’s priorities. The plaintiffs say former leaders sought to pull back from an abortion-rights mission and LGBTQ+ outreach. They include former Georgia State Director Kaylah Oates-Marable, former Vice President of Communications and Marketing Jaylen Black, and former Director of Education Jessica Swanson, according to CBS News Atlanta.
The complaint, filed Monday, alleges that interim CEO Mairo Akposé told senior staff after the 2024 presidential election that she wanted to rebrand the organization’s mission to put less emphasis on abortion rights, according to Courthouse News Service. The plaintiffs say they were fired after speaking out about what they viewed as a departure from Planned Parenthood Southeast’s mission of inclusive, comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services, including abortion, CBS News Atlanta reported. Oates-Marable told the outlet she had wanted to work for Planned Parenthood since she was 17 and said the experience turned her dream into a nightmare.
The lawsuit also alleges that, in June 2025, employees were told to withdraw from sexual public-health campaigns aimed at LGBTQ+ communities, Courthouse News reports. Some plaintiffs say they filed internal complaints about discriminatory practices targeting LGBTQ employees, including transgender staff members who said they were fired after reporting concerns, according to CBS News Atlanta. The complaint further alleges that employees were told to withdraw from LGBTQ-focused public-health campaigns.
Specific Allegations From Two Former Executives
Oates-Marable alleges that she was fired weeks after raising HR concerns about employees’ discomfort with former Executive Director Karen Rene, according to Courthouse News. Black says she reported concerns to Akposé about the treatment of a transgender staffer and the organization’s policy direction. The lawsuit alleges that after Black challenged that direction, she was dismissed while on disability leave.
Black said Wednesday that she and the other plaintiffs were fired because they supported Planned Parenthood, calling the situation heartbreaking and illegal. Attorney Artur Davis, who represents the plaintiffs, said the six women tried to save Planned Parenthood Southeast and that its community deserved to know about problems within the regional affiliate. Davis added that restoring the organization required justice and remedying the damages done to the women, per CBS News Atlanta.
PPSE's Response and an Independent Review
Planned Parenthood Southeast's board announced in October 2025 that it had learned of troubling allegations regarding executive leadership and said it would take action, retaining what it called a nationally recognized law firm to conduct a thorough review. The board said at the time that the organization remained open and continued serving more than 15,000 patients who rely on its services, according to CBS News Atlanta.
That review later concluded there was no merit to the allegations against the PPSE board, its interim CEO or its leadership team, and found no evidence supporting the claims, according to a statement from Planned Parenthood Southeast. The organization said it would engage an employment law firm to audit and improve its HR practices and clarify processes for raising concerns. But the Save PPSE campaign rejected those findings, with organizers telling Prism Reports that the conclusion was false and irresponsible, calling it the predictable outcome of an investigation they said was deliberately structured to protect those accused of harm.
The dispute over the organization's priorities also surfaced earlier in reporting from Georgia Public Broadcasting, which noted that former employees and petition organizers alleged the organization had terminated staff dedicated to public policy and organizing while curtailing its emphasis on abortion services and community outreach. PPSE's board disputed that characterization, telling the station it employed two full-time and six part-time public-policy and advocacy staff members across its three-state service area.
Leadership Turnover Continues
Akposé resigned as interim CEO in December 2025, roughly two months after the investigation into alleged mismanagement began, according to the Georgia Public Broadcasting report and a later account from the Georgia Recorder. Planned Parenthood Action Fund was scheduled to take a more active role leading advocacy and political work in Georgia beginning that same month, per the PPSE statement.
How the organizations’ roles differ
PPSE is the regional affiliate discussed in this lawsuit and provides health services through its health centers. Planned Parenthood Action Fund describes itself as a separate nonprofit membership organization that conducts educational, advocacy and limited electoral activity, according to Planned Parenthood Action Fund. The material cited here does not detail Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s relationship to PPSE or specify how its role is divided from the affiliate’s clinical services.
On January 29, Planned Parenthood Los Angeles announced it would step in to provide interim leadership support to the Southeast affiliate amid the ongoing turmoil, according to the Georgia Recorder. PPSE has described its service area as spanning Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, while Prism Reports describes five reproductive health centers and two virtual centers across Georgia and Alabama. CBS News Atlanta said it had requested comment from Planned Parenthood Southeast on the lawsuit and would update its report if the organization responded.
