Extremist judges will not stop endangering the lives of pregnant people or people who may become pregnant—overturning Roe v. Wade, attacking medication abortion, threatening the future of IVF, and this week at SCOTUS, emergency abortion care.
Our lawyers are waging strategic fights that make clear what is at stake for people who can become pregnant and seek to bolster our fundamental rights to control our lives, futures, and destinies.
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Leila (she/her) is Senior Counsel for Reproductive Rights and Health at the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC). She spearheads NWLC’s work developing legal supports for health care professionals facing employment barriers and discrimination due to their support for or participation in abortion services. She gives Know Your Rights presentations on these issues and consults with individual health care professionals across the country regarding instances of discrimination or other barriers to their participating in abortion care.
Prior to joining the National Women’s Law center, she was an Attorney-Advisor at the Office of the General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in the Civil Rights, Labor, and Employment Law Division, Litigation Section. She defended the USDA in civil lawsuits alleging discrimination before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Merit Systems Protection Board, and Federal Court. She is served on the Board of Directors for the Hispanic Bar Association of DC for eight years and was President in 2019.
Leila has also served as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) for the District of Columbia, as a prosecutor in the Sex Offense and Domestic Violence section and also worked in the Civil Division at the USAO, defending the federal government in civil actions.
Prior to law school at American University Washington College of Law, she attended culinary school in Florence, Italy. Leila received her B.A. in political science from Rice University in Houston, Texas, and is from Miami Beach, FL.
