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Our People

About our team

Abortion Talk is staffed by a small, remote and part-time team who all dream of a world free from abortion stigma and want to do their bit to bring that about. We're incredibly fortunate to be powered by our group of Talkline volunteers who give up their evenings to provide support and information on the phone or by webchat. We're governed by an outstanding board of trustees who provide oversight to the charity and our capacity is amplified by the talents of our advisory board. Read on to learn more about us.

The Team

Jayne Kavanagh

Education and training consultant
Co founder

Jayne is an associate professor at UCL Medical School and a specialty doctor in Homerton Abortion Care Service. She is co-chair of Doctors for Choice UK and director of education and training at Abortion Talk. Jayne is passionate about improving abortion education for healthcare students and about destigmatising abortion. She produced and co-directed Kind to Women, a short documentary film about the1967 Abortion Act.

Susie Corfield

Executive Director

Susie has been an abortion advocate for over 20 years, including time spent serving on the boards of Abortion Rights and Abortion Support Network. As part of her own efforts to destigmatise abortion she has taken part in many press and broacast interviews about her experience of accessing abortion.

Susie has previously worked in leadership roles in UK charities with a particular focus on volunteers, learning and development and partnership management.

Kim Newman

Talkline rota coordinator

Kim qualified as a Midwife from King’s College in London in 2015. She has worked in the NHS, for MSI Reproductive Choices and in the fertility sector. She currently works for the HFEA, the UK’s fertility regulator, managing requests for information from donors, donor-conceived individuals and their parents. She also volunteers on the Abortion Talk Talkline and is passionate about supporting people through their decisions about a pregnancy.

Lesley Hoggart

Academic partnerships lead
Co founder

Lesley Hoggart is a Professor of Social Policy Research at the Open University. Her main areas of research are focused on reproductive health; abortion policy and politics; abortion stigma and contraception. She is committed to research that makes a difference and tries to translate research findings into action. Lesley’s most recent academic work on understanding abortion stigma has resulted in the multi-media My Body My Life Travelling Exhibition and website.

Jane Calvert

Talkline trainer & Workshop facilitator

Jane has been involved in abortion care for the last 35 years. She has worked with the Family Planning Association, MSI Reproductive Choices and also BPAS in client care for the past 29 years. During this time she has ‘talked abortion’ in many different environments and would definitely be described as an ‘abortion nerd’!

Jane advocates for abortion to be delivered in a way that is kind, compassionate, respectful and is able to maintain the dignity and integrity of everyone involved.

Trustees

Laura Russell (Chair)

Head of Professional and Policy Committees, BMA

Laura has a background in policy and research and currently works for the British Medical Association, the registered trade union for doctors in the UK. Before joining the BMA, she led the policy, campaigns and research teams at Stonewall (the LGBTQ+ campaigning charity) and at the sexual and reproductive health and rights charity FPA.

Hayley Webb

GP

Hayley Webb is a GP based in London, who also works as a doctor for the Havens, a specialist centre providing care to victims of rape and sexual assault. She has experience working in abortion care, contraception and sexual health across a variety of settings. Hayley is the Secretary of Doctors for Choice UK and is also involved in delivering teaching on abortion care to medical students at UCLH.

Hayley’s interest in reproductive healthcare is led by her strong feminist values and she is a passionate advocate for women's reproductive rights.

Jane Fisher

Chief Executive, ARC

Jane Fisher has been Chief Executive of the charity Antenatal Results and Choices (ARC) since 2004. ARC provides impartial information and support to parents throughout antenatal screening and its consequences and works in partnership with healthcare professionals to help promote high-quality care. As well as managing the charity, Jane is also involved in directly supporting parents, training health professionals, research, policy and media work. She has a particular interest in women’s experience of termination for fetal anomaly.

Samuel Yosef

Researcher and Doctoral Student, KCL

Sam is a Doctoral Student at the Cultural Competency Unit of King’s College London (KCL). His PhD project is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and it’s focused on understanding and addressing the influence of colonialism on postgraduate specialty training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in the UK. Sam works as the Administrator for the British Society of Abortion Care Providers (BSACP) and has previously worked in project management and education roles for the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH) and the General Medical Council (GMC).

Charlotte Chung (Treasurer)

Strategy and operations lead at ARIA

Charlotte is Strategy and Operations Lead at ARIA (Advanced Research and Invention Agency). She has held senior roles in public policy and strategic communications, including Chief of Staff at the Money and Pensions Service.

Helen Timbrell

People & Organisational Development Consultant, Researcher & Coach

Helen works as a Consultant, Researcher and

Coach with a particular focus on the third sector and volunteer engagement, strategy and Leadership.

She previously held the roles of Executive Director of People and Organisational Development at both Samaritans and Versus Arthritis, overseeing support for staff and volunteers. Prior to this Helen was Director of Volunteering and Participation at the National Trust.

She currently volunteers at her local National Trust property, is a member of the Chestnut Fund Committee, allocating small grants for conservation work on behalf of The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) and a Trustee at Dogs for Good.

Mara Clarke

Co-Founder, S.A.F.E. Supporting Abortions for Everyone

Mara Clarke has spent more than 20 years helping people failed by governments, healthcare systems and bad laws get abortions. After starting her abortion activism in the US, she started the first abortion fund in Europe, and was also one of the founding members of the Abortion Without Borders initiative. She is currently the co-founder of Supporting Abortions for Everyone – S.A.F.E., a Dutch organisation dedicated to supporting and resourcing the growing movement of grassroots activists across Europe who are helping people get abortions.

Zoe Macalpine

Director of Fundraising and Communications,
World Child Cancer

Zoe has over twenty years of fundraising experience and is currently Director of Fundraising and Communications at World Child Cancer. She has previously been Global Head of Fundraising at ActionAid International, Head of Major Gifts and Special Events at Terrence Higgins Trust and held fundraising roles at Mothers2Mothers, Marie Curie, Bloodwise and ActionAid UK. She lives in north London with her two children.

Our President

Wendy Savage

President

Wendy is a Retired Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant at The Royal London Hospital, and Honorary Professor at Middlesex University's Department of Health and Education.

Along with two colleagues she set up our charity, then called Womanschoice, in 1985, and stayed on as a trustee after we relaunched as Abortion Talk in 2021. She stepped down as a trustee in 2024 and is now our President, as well as President of Doctors for Choice, Keep Our NHS Public, BMA Council member and Public Governor, Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust.

Advisory Group

Christina Boateng

Assistant Coordinator, International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion

Currently a Masters student in Human Rights, Christina has been directly involved in abortion rights since 2017. Her work has involved supporting the coordination of International Safe Abortion Day and participating in international meetings with other abortion-rights activists. She also has experience working with migrants and refugees in the UK.

Fiona Bloomer

Academic, Ulster University

Fiona Bloomer is Senior Lecturer in Social Policy, in the School of Applied Social and Policy Sciences at Ulster University. She has written extensively on abortion policy, has published in international journals and is co-author of the book Reimagining Global Abortion Politics.

Joe Strong

Researcher and PhD Candidate, LSE

Joe's current research focuses on the relationship between men, masculinities, and sexual and reproductive health, with a specific focus on abortion-related care. More broadly, he explores the roles of structural inequalities on access to abortion care and has worked on numerous abortion-related projects, including with the WHO, Ipas, and the Guttmacher Institute.

He co-convenes the Abortion Book Club with Dr Rishita Nandagiri – open to all!

Patricia A. Lohr

Director of Research and Innovation, BPAS

Patricia is an obstetrician and gynaecologist who has devoted her career to ensuring that people can access evidence-based abortion care. This has included service design, direct abortion care, research, education/training, and contributions to textbooks and national and international clinical practice guidelines. She is a co-Chair of British Society of Abortion Care Providers (BCACP) and member of the Education and Training Committee.

Pollyanna Cohen

Doctor

Pollyanna is an NHS doctor specialising in sexual and reproductive health (SRH). She works both in sexual health and contraception clinics, as well as hospital gynaecology. Her research, based at UCL, focuses on medical education and training including SRH for mental health professionals. Polly is especially passionate about improving access to, destigmatising and decriminalising abortion. She is a committee member of Doctors for Choice UK, has developed international abortion teaching resources and produced multiple abortion campaign music videos.

Yvonne Neubauer

Associate Clinical Director, MSI Reproductive Choices UK

Abortion Care is Health Care! Yvonne is a Sexual and Reproductive Health Doctor who is passionate about delivering a high standard of evidence-based abortion care. She believes in a person's right to choose and supports individuals to make the best decision for themselves regarding their pregnancy options. She is keen on promoting discussions about abortion, in order to tackle stigma and address misinformation.

Carrie Purcell

Research Fellow, University of Glasgow

Carrie is a Research Fellow at the Open University. She is a medical sociologist whose main research interests are around abortion, sexual and reproductive health, stigma, pain, and reproductive justice. Carrie currently leads a programme of research and engagement around sexual and reproductive health-related pain. Since 2012, she has worked on a range of abortion-related projects, including the Sexuality and Abortion Stigma Study (SASS) and the Abortion During Covid-19 study. Carrie is a frequent contributor to policy and public debate around abortion in Scotland. Her work has been published in various journals including Sociology of Health & Illness, Feminism & Psychology, and BMJ Sexual and Reproductive Health.

Isadora Sinha

PhD Researcher, Cardiff University

Isadora is currently a PhD researcher at Cardiff University studying medicine. She is best known in the Cardiff student community for getting their students’ union to officially adopt a pro-choice stance in 2019, founding the CU Pro-Choice Society the same year. During 2019/20 she was also the Wellbeing Officer for CU Feminist Society; this year she was elected as Cardiff University’s Students’ Union’s Black and Minority Ethnic Officer and re-elected as President of the Pro-Choice Society. Isadora is on Abortion Rights UK’s Executive Committee, designing their social media infographics about telemedical abortion services and is student liaison for Abortion Rights Cardiff.

Lisa Hallgarten

Head of Policy and Public Affairs, Brook

Lisa Hallgarten is Head of Policy and Public Affairs at Brook. She advocates for young people’s rights to accessible sexual and reproductive health services; and champions inclusive, sex-positive Relationships and Sex Education.

Rachel Mantock

Journalist & Digital Advocacy Content Manager

Rachel is a journalist whose work focuses on reproductive and women’s health, lifestyle and culture. She has a particular interest in creating content that advocates for further research and access to care for reproductive health issues disproportionately experienced by Black women, the abolition of stigma around sexuality, safe abortion, and safe SRHR spaces for LGBTQ groups and teens.

Upeka De Silva

Policy Officer, Compassion in Dying

Upeka has a passion for protecting individual autonomy and choice. She has thirteen years of experience in international sexual and reproductive health and rights programmes - from youth-friendly services to safe abortion and fistula care. Upeka has a special interest in projects that seek to address sensitive issues, challenge misconceptions and promote new thinking in relation to advancing reproductive choice. In keeping with her passion for promoting person-centred care, Upeka now works on supporting individuals to make informed choices about treatment and care at the end of life.