PPAO Welcomes An Do as Executive Director

The Board of Directors for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon (PPAO) is pleased to announce that An Do (she/her) will be the organization’s next Executive Director. She has served PPAO in an interim capacity since January.

“We are thrilled that An Do will lead the organization as we begin a new chapter toward full control of our bodies, our rights, our democracy and our futures,” says PPAO Board Chair Beverly Pearman. “Access to sexual and reproductive health care are inextricably tied to health and safety during the pandemic, and Oregonians are fortunate to have a champion for social justice in this role. We must continue to expand access to sexual and reproductive health care, to combat inequities and to fight for the next generation.”

Do previously served as PPAO’s Political Director, most recently getting abortion, family planning and gender-affiming care defined as essential services during the COVID-19 pandemic and leading a successful 2020 election cycle that unseated right-wing legislators in Bend and Salem and flipped the Secretary of State’s seat to a pro-sexual and reproductive healthcare champion. Before that, she directed communications for No Cuts to Care, the campaign that decisively defeated the anti-abortion Ballot Measure 106. She has volunteered as a Planned Parenthood clinic escort, as a PPAO Legislative and Policy Fellow and as a member of the Multnomah County Leadership & Advocacy Team. In 2018, she received PPAO’s highest honor for volunteer excellence.

Prior to her political and advocacy work, Do worked in direct services as a social worker in alternative high schools in Brooklyn and Portland supporting young people at risk of aging out of the public education system. She also has extensive private-sector experience in business development, recruiting and operations. Do holds a master’s degree in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in English from University of California at Berkeley.

“Planned Parenthood is not just a place where people go to be empowered to take care of their bodies, it is the place people come to be empowered through their bodies,” Do says. “Whether it is choosing a method of birth control, getting abortion care or accessing gender-affirming care, the ability to claim and actualize one’s bodily autonomy is a potent form of agency and reclamation of power.

“As the daughter of Vietnamese refugees, my family lived at the intersection of the social, racial, gender, economic and reproductive justice issues that I fight for. I am honored to be entrusted with leading this organization in this movement to go beyond reproductive freedom toward liberation and a future where every person has the rights, recognition and resources to be the authors of their own destiny — to chart and live their fullest lives in safe and thriving communities.”