Kate Kelly will be joining the Center for American Progress (CAP) as senior director for the Women’s Initiative. In this role, she will lead CAP’s efforts to advocate for reproductive rights and freedom, expand abortion access, and advance policies to ensure all women can participate in the economy and live healthy, productive lives.
Kelly is a nationally recognized reproductive rights and constitutional equality advocate. She joins CAP from the office of Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), where she served as legislative director. Previously, she served as counsel for Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, leading the committee’s investigative and legislative work on gender justice issues. Her legal career includes positions at Equality Now, the Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute, the Women’s Refugee Commission, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and Planned Parenthood.
Kelly co-founded the National Coalition to End Child Marriage in the United States and led a successful statewide campaign to add an equal rights amendment to the Nevada Constitution. She is also an author of an award-winning book titled "Ordinary Equality: The Fearless Women and Queer People Who Shaped the U.S. Constitution and the Equal Rights Amendment."
Kelly holds a Juris Doctor from American University Washington College of Law and a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University.
“The current political and legal threats to women’s rights and bodily autonomy are the gravest in decades. Kate has a track record of fighting fearlessly for gender equity, from rallying grassroots activists to crafting policy on the Hill, and I am thrilled to have her take leadership of CAP’s Women’s Initiative,” said Emily Gee, senior vice president for Inclusive Growth at CAP. “She has the energy and vision that’s needed not just to fight against the rollback of abortion rights and women’s economic progress but also to chart a path toward a more just and equitable future for women.”
For more information, please contact Sarah Nadeau at [email protected].
