Julie F. Kay

Human Rights Attorney, Activist, and Author

An experienced and passionate advocate for equality, attorney Julie F. Kay is an expert on women's human rights domestically and internationally. A pioneering voice on telemedicine abortion, Kay is the Founder and CEO of Reproductive Futures.

Julie F. Kay, Founder and CEO of Reproductive Futures, is an experienced and passionate advocate in the US and globally. She is a well-recognized legal expert, author, and strategist who has been a pioneering voice on access to telemedicine abortion, emergency and post-abortion care. She is the co-author of Controlling Women: What We Must Do Now to Save Reproductive Freedom.

Kay began her legal career at the Center for Reproductive Rights litigating reproductive rights cases nationwide after clerking for US District Court Judge Mark L. Wolf. She next moved to Ireland where she served as the lead attorney who designed and litigated the landmark case ABC v. Ireland, successfully arguing before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights that Ireland's ban on life-saving abortion violated her client’s human rights. Kay's legal work with the Irish Family Planning Association is credited with playing a vital role in abortion legalization in Ireland.  

As the first Senior Legal Strategist at Footsteps, she created a trailblazing legal reform initiative that protects the custody and constitutional rights of parents leaving ultra-religious communities. Kay’s earlier experience includes work as a Senior Legal Senior Staff Attorney at Legal Momentum (formerly the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund), the inaugural Senior Strategist for Advocacy and Policy at the Ms. Foundation for Women and as the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine (ACT).

Kay has a B.A. in Women’s Studies and Social Studies cum laude from Harvard University, and a J.D. cum laude from Brooklyn Law School. She participates in extensive board service and lives in New York with her family.