Leslie Kantor, chair and professor at the Rutgers School of Public Health, shared her insights on how sexual and reproductive health, abortion access, and women’s health may be affected by the 2025 presidential election. Formerly the vice president of education at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Kantor discussed the potential ramifications for marginalized communities, particularly in light of policy changes under a new administration.
Asked about the potential impact on women’s health, Kantor emphasized that “there’s been a lot of attention on abortion policy and the inability of people who are pregnant to get abortions, but the threat to health care is very broad.” She recounted that the incoming administration has a track record of targeting the Affordable Care Act, which provides critical coverage. “The health of every person, regardless of gender identity, is likely to be profoundly affected,” she stated.
While much attention has been given to abortion policies, Kantor warned of broader threats to healthcare, particularly for marginalized groups. For LGBTQ individuals, access to gender-affirming care has been under attack in recent years. “In some states, even adults can no longer access hormonal therapy or other affirming care if they rely on government-funded programs like Medicaid,” she noted.
Beyond access to care, Kantor highlighted the mental health toll of anti-LGBTQ policies. “The overall climate and just having attacks [has] become so much more prevalent, in the news, in dialogue, [and] we know that that causes a lot of stress and mental health issues.” She shared that research shows an intersection between anti-LGBT policies at the state level and mental health outcomes. “Lots of times people go to the most extreme and talk about suicide attempts and suicide, and obviously that is a tragic outcome, but I think that we shouldn’t ignore that it’s just a much more stressful time than the LGBT community has been in in a long time.”
Kantor’s tenure at Planned Parenthood shaped her approach to reproductive health. “It’s not just about having the doors open,” she said. “It’s making sure that people have comfort when they come in the door, that they are going to be treated with respect, that they are going to get what they need, and that there’s gonna be a way to pay for their services.” She highlighted how particularly important this is for members in the LGBTQ community, people of color, and adolescents.
She emphasized the importance of Planned Parenthood’s integrated approach to education, services, and advocacy. “Planned Parenthood always had to fight against tough opposition to keep its doors open.” That helped her understanding of advocacy and what policymakers need to do. She learned the important of lifting up stories. “All of those advocacy skills, I think, are certainly going to come in particularly handy in this next couple of years.”
At Rutgers, Kantor is the Chair of the Department of Urban-Global Public Health, which focuses on community-engaged research. “We believe our priorities need to come from the community,” she said.
One area of focus is maternal health, particularly addressing disparities in New Jersey. “We have some of the worst disparities between black women and white women in terms of birth outcomes of any state in the country,” Kantor noted. “It’s an interesting issue because you suddenly see New Jersey sitting next to a lot of states in the Southeast, and nobody’s used to seeing that. Normally, New Jersey is a much healthier place to be than the Southeast.”
Kantor addressed common misconceptions about public health, noting that the COVID-19 pandemic has skewed public perception of public health as curtailing freedom. “Public health is really about the freedom to live your healthiest life. When public health is prioritized, it means we can breathe and be breathing in clean air, not air that’s going to give us lung cancer. We can drink water out of the tap without worrying that it’s full of lead. We can drink water out of the tap that has fluoride in it, which we know is actually critical, not just to our dental health, but that dental health is, now we’re finding out, connected to lots of systems of the body.” She noted how public health has been vilified from its central purpose of allowing people to live in a safe and healthy manner to reach their full life expectancy.
On reproductive health, Kantor warned of the dangers of misinformation. “There’s a lot of misinformation related to birth control and abortion, and some of that has been created very deliberately by opponents of abortion and contraception. But then some of it is unfortunately the result of social media and how quickly misinformation can spread.” To counter that Kantor emphasized the importance of credible sources.
“If you’re thinking about something related to reproduction, then I’m interested in what the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has to say about it. If I’m worried about my child’s health, then I want to look at the American Academy of Pediatrics. I don’t want to just go look at one study and believe whatever it says.” Instead of relying on a single study or search engine, she recommends resources such as Cochrane Reviews. “It’s really important to look for those organizations that give you the consensus of a lot of people who’ve looked at the scientific literature as a whole.”
“In about half the states in the country, there are complete bans on abortion or very serious restrictions.”
The overturning of Roe v. Wade has created significant barriers to abortion access. “In about half the states in the country, there are complete bans on abortion or very serious restrictions,” Kantor said. She stressed that abortion is not only for those who don’t want to be pregnant but also for those experiencing life-threatening complications.
She explained that conditions like eclampsia, which causes extremely high blood pressure, can be fatal. Sometimes there isn’t enough time to travel to other states for care. “For many years, we’ve talked about disparities in outcomes by race, or ethnicity, or even gender, or sexual identity and orientation. But geographic disparities are what we’re really seeing in a very intense way.” This is also mirrored in sex education. “We saw this for a long time with sex education actually, that that was always kind of a state-by-state issue.”
Kantor recommended a single-payer national healthcare system to address systemic inequities. “It’s what literally every single other high-income country in the world has. In the United States, we pay more money toward our health care for worse outcomes than any other high-income country.”
She encouraged concerned individuals to engage in advocacy. “Call your senator, send a letter to your senator, sign this petition, speak up, do it.” For anyone who feels powerless, they still have the chance to lead by example. “I think that helping to make New Jersey a state where we continue to make progress and be an example to the rest of the country, that’s really a very exciting opportunity and a place where people can focus.”
Despite upcoming challenges, Kantor expressed hope for the future. “I think we have such terrific people on our side of these issues, and I think the organizing that’s already happening gives me a lot of hope,” she said, pointing to initiatives like Defending Public Health, which drew over 1,200 participants to its first call. Her message to activists is one of resilience. “When you’re feeling tired, find somebody who seems to be a little bit less tired and have them help you along until you get your energy back.” She wants people to know that the best thing they can do is to work together and be a part of a community.
