Francine Coeytaux, founder of the Pacific Institute for Women's Health, is an American-based French public health specialist and abortion rights activist who has developed and evaluated family planning and reproductive health programs. She is known for her work on comprehensive reproductive health services, abortion and new

reproductive technologies Reproductive technology encompasses all current and anticipated uses of technology in human and animal reproduction, including assisted reproductive technology, contraception and others. It is also termed Assisted Reproductive Technology, where it ...

. She was an Associate at the Population Council in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

where she started an international program to address the problem of unsafe abortion, collaborated on the public introduction of

Norplant Levonorgestrel-releasing implant, sold under the brand name Jadelle among others, are devices that release levonorgestrel for birth control. It is one of the most effective forms of birth control with a one-year failure rate around 0.05%. The de ...

and

RU 486 Mifepristone, also known as RU-486, is a medication typically used in combination with misoprostol to bring about a medical abortion during pregnancy and manage early miscarriage. This combination is 97% effective during the first 63 days of p ...

, and helped develop reproductive health activities in

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

Early life and education

Coeytaux was born in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and grew up in

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

. She studied at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

where her B.A. was in Latin American History and Human Biology. She obtained an MPH in Demography and Population Studies from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

Career

Coeytaux worked for many years in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, US. She contributed in the 1970s to the creation of

Planned Parenthood The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally. It is a tax-exempt corporation under Internal Reve ...

's first adolescent outreach programs in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

and designed a health program for migrant children in five rural counties of California. She has published extensively. She sits on the Boards of

EngenderHealth EngenderHealth is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. active in sexual and reproductive health (SRH) operating in nearly 20 countries throughout Africa, Asia, and the Americas. The organization was established in 1943 an ...

and the Center for Genetics and Society. Coeytaux has consulted for organizations including the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

, the International Planned Parenthood Federation, the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

, the Compton Foundation, and served on the State of California’s Advisory Committee on

Human Cloning Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy (or clone) of a human. The term is generally used to refer to artificial human cloning, which is the reproduction of human cells and tissue. It does not refer to the natural concepti ...

. She was one of the founders of the Reproductive Health Technologies Project. She was one of the founders of the Plan C website and campaign for access to

medical abortion A medical abortion, also known as medication abortion, occurs when drugs (medication) are used to bring about an abortion. Medical abortions are an alternative to surgical abortions such as vacuum aspiration or dilation and curettage. Medical ...

. Coeytaux has received the

Ruth Roemer Ruth Roemer (1916 – August 1, 2005) was an American lawyer and public health researcher who championed the importance of human rights in the field of public health.Woo, Elaine. "Ruth Roemer, 89; Pioneer in Public Health Law Was Active in Tobac ...

Social Justice Leadership Award and the Felicia Stewart Award for Lifetime Achievement in Emergency Contraception. She has been inducted into the UCLA School of Public Health Alumni Hall of Fame.

Personal life

Coeytaux has lived in Tunisia, Peru, Nicaragua, Switzerland and the United States, and has worked in sub-Saharan Africa and

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

. She lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband, David Glanzman. They have two children.

Publications

* ''Celebrating Mother and Child on the Fortieth Day: The Sfax, Tunisia Postpartum Program'' (1989) *
Expanding Use of Magnesium Sulfate for Treatment of Pre-eclampsia and Eclampsia: Building Towards Scale in Nigeria
' (2014), report to MacArthur Foundation, with Sada Danmusa, Jennifer Potts and Elisa Wells * "Remote Delivery in Reproductive Health Care: Operation of Direct-to-Patient Telehealth Medication Abortion Services in Diverse Settings", with Anna E. Fiastro, Sajal Sanan, Elizabeth Jacob-Files, Elisa Wells, Molly R. Ruben, Ian M. Bennett and Emily M. Godfrey, in ''

Annals of Family Medicine ''Annals of Family Medicine'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed medical journal that was established in May/June 2003. It publishes original research from the clinical, biomedical, social and health services sciences, as well as contributions on methodo ...

'', July 2022

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coeytaux, Francine Living people Reproductive rights activists American abortion-rights activists People associated with Planned Parenthood Year of birth missing (living people) People from Los Angeles Stanford University alumni UCLA School of Public Health alumni