Our people
Meet our community of abortion activists and professionals, researchers, providers, advocates, and community organisers who are working hard to help us tackle abortion stigma.
Team
Trustees
Advisory Group

Jayne Kavanagh

Co Director
Jayne Kavanagh is an Associate Professor (Teaching) at UCL Medical School and a sexual and reproductive health specialty doctor in London. She is clinical education lead of the RCOG’s Making Abortion Safe programme and co-chairs Doctors for Choice UK.

Lesley Hoggart

Co Director
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.

Franki Appleton

Coordinator
Franki is a reproductive justice advocate, specialising in comms and public affairs. She worked for an abortion provider for over 5 years and was an Executive Committee Member of Abortion Rights. She believes in the power of language to fight abortion stigma and to create more empathetic and caring environments for those seeking care and working as providers. She would describe herself as an intersectional eco-feminist.

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.