Sterling Franklin was one of RHAP’s very first supporters. As a lawyer and trustee of the Morris F. Smith Foundation, Sterling has dedicated his career to improving access to reproductive health care.

Sterling was introduced to RHAP in 2005 at a house party in Pasadena, California. He immediately connected with RHAP’s message of integrating abortion and contraception into primary care. At that event, Sterling made a pledge on behalf of his foundation, which motivated others to donate. The funds we raised at that Pasadena house party enabled us to launch our organization. As Sterling explains, “family practitioners are confidential – they are only dealing with individual patients, so people are not getting hassled by protestors.”

A former board member of Population Connection and Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, Sterling is interested in the latest developments in family planning. He sees advances in emergency contraception and the Affordable Care Act as ways of “vastly increasing provision of contraceptives” so that more women can get the health care they need. We are so grateful for his tireless support over the last ten-years!