NARAL Pro-Choice America Announces New President, Mini Timmaraju - Reproductive Freedom for All

Formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America

Press Release

NARAL Pro-Choice America Announces New President, Mini Timmaraju

Nation’s Leading Reproductive Freedom Advocacy Organization Embarks on New Chapter

Washington, DC The NARAL Pro-Choice America Board today announced the organization’s new president, Mini Timmaraju, who will join the organization on November 15, 2021. NARAL Pro-Choice America, founded in 1969, is the oldest membership organization dedicated to fighting for abortion access. Mini is the first woman of color to lead the organization.

The transition comes at a moment when the constitutional right to abortion is in unprecedented jeopardy as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade in less than a month. Just three days ago, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two separate cases about Texas’ vigilante-enforced abortion ban, which remains in effect, rendering Roe essentially meaningless in the second largest state in the country.

Mini, a first-generation immigrant from India who grew up and spent the formative years of her career in Texas, brings a wealth of experience in electoral politics and public service, including advising the Biden-Harris administration on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility and serving as National Women’s Vote Director for the 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign. Mini has a proven track record of building and leading high-impact campaigns and coalitions fighting for reproductive rights, gender justice, and racial justice and is an expert on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Mini’s bio is available here and a new video here, released today, shares more about her journey to the helm of NARAL Pro-Choice America.

With a decision in the case that could overturn Roe v. Wade expected just months before the 2022 midterm elections, NARAL’s work to engage voters, mobilize our 2.5 million members, and shape electoral outcomes is more critical than ever.

Incoming NARAL Pro-Choice America President Mini Timmaraju said:

 “I could not be more honored to step into this role, with so much at stake for the freedom to decide. I’ve long admired NARAL Pro-Choice America as a political powerhouse that builds power at the state and national level and reaches key constituencies. Right now, it is imperative that we elect champions for reproductive freedom and hold accountable those who are trying to roll back abortion access, while centering the communities who bear the brunt of the anti-choice movement’s cruel attacks on reproductive freedom.”

NARAL Pro-Choice America Board Chair Anna Burger said:

“We are thrilled to welcome Mini and for her to lead NARAL Pro-Choice America at this pivotal moment. She is the leader to guide NARAL into its next chapter. We were captivated by her vision for our organization’s future and her deep commitment to equity. Her background in organizing, advocacy, and electoral politics—from Texas to Washington D.C. to New Hampshire to South Carolina to New York—is a boon to NARAL’s vital work on the ground in states across the country and nationally.”

The search for the new president was co-chaired by NARAL board members Karen Finney and Joanna Spilker.

NARAL Pro-Choice America and its 2.5 million members are currently mobilizing to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), legislation that would safeguard the right to abortion in all 50 states and which passed the U.S. House of Representatives in a historic vote earlier this fall. NARAL is also holding to account the senators who voted to confirm Trump’s anti-choice justices as the Supreme Court prepares to hear a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case next month, just weeks after the Court heard arguments in two cases around Texas’ vigilante-enforced ban on abortion.

NARAL Pro-Choice America has been mobilizing and organizing its millions of members for over 50 years, fighting for abortion access, paid family leave, access to contraception, and protections from pregnancy discrimination. The organization has a footprint in every state and congressional district in the county and runs major political programs, including its largest-ever independent expenditure program in 2020. NARAL also monitors and exposes the anti-choice movement and its tactics of disinformation and deception.

NARAL’s previous president, Ilyse Hogue, stepped down in May 2021, after leading the organization for eight years. Adrienne Kimmell has been acting president since Ilyse’s departure and will continue in that role until Mini starts on November 15.

 

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For over 50 years, NARAL Pro-Choice America has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, paid family leave, and protections from pregnancy discrimination—for every body. NARAL is powered by its more than 2.5 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.