Planned Parenthood
Designing a trusted information system during one of the most consequential public health moments in recent history.
When the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade, the hardest design problem wasn’t explaining a Supreme Court ruling. It was helping someone understand what it meant for them, in that moment, with little time, no legal background, and every reason to feel uncertain.
People weren’t looking for constitutional analysis. They wanted to know whether they were still protected, where they could receive care, and what to do next.
I led content strategy, messaging architecture, and statewide communications across Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, designing a shared information system that transformed legal complexity into clear, trustworthy action across every major communication channel in the years after the landmark decision was overturned.
Information Architect
Role: Content Strategist, Statewide Communications
2022–2023
Timeline, spanning the Dobbs decision through its one-year anniversary
Multi-affiliate
Partners: Policy, Legal, Clinical, Executive Leadership, Communications Directors
Statewide
Scope: Messaging architecture, web content, advocacy, executive comms, video
Context
01
California did not lose abortion access when Roe fell. Yet for many people, that distinction disappeared beneath a flood of breaking news, conflicting headlines, and rapidly changing state laws. Across California, Planned Parenthood affiliates began receiving the same question from patients, supporters, journalists, and policymakers.
A state where abortion remained legal, but certainty didn’t.
“Am I still safe here?”
The organization had no shortage of expertise. Policy specialists, legal counsel, clinicians, and communications teams all understood exactly what had changed and what had not. What was missing wasn’t knowledge, but a shared system for communicating that knowledge consistently.
Each affiliate was responding independently, using slightly different language, timelines, and priorities. Individually, every message was accurate. Collectively, they created unnecessary friction at the exact moment people needed clarity most.
The real problem
This wasn’t a knowledge gap. It was a systems gap. Confusion rarely comes from too little information; more often, it comes from receiving multiple versions of the truth before knowing which one to trust.
People weren’t asking what happened. They were asking what to do next.
Conversations with policy, legal, clinical, and communications leaders surfaced a consistent pattern: most audiences already understood that something significant had happened. What they lacked was confidence in their next step.
They wanted to know whether abortion remained legal in California, whether their provider was still operating, how to help friends or family in other states, or how they could support reproductive rights moving forward.
That insight fundamentally changed the design strategy. The objective wasn’t to explain a Supreme Court decision. It was to reduce the distance between legal complexity and meaningful action for every audience, whether they were a patient seeking care, a legislator preparing testimony, a volunteer contacting elected officials, or someone simply trying to understand the news.
Strategy
02
One source of truth, many experiences.
Rather than designing content one channel at a time, I developed a shared messaging architecture that every affiliate, writer, and spokesperson could build from. The underlying system remained consistent while the delivery adapted to each audience and communication channel.
The framework needed to satisfy legal review, support clinical accuracy, scale across multiple affiliate organizations, and still feel approachable enough for someone reading it during a stressful moment on their phone.
STRATEGY 01
Reduce uncertainty before asking for action
Every experience first answered the reader’s immediate question before introducing context, advocacy, or calls to action. People cannot confidently act on information they don’t yet understand.
STRATEGY 02
One source. Many surfaces.
A single messaging architecture powered executive statements, advocacy campaigns, patient education, web content, media responses, and video storytelling. Consistency wasn’t simply an editorial standard; it became the foundation for organizational trust across a distributed statewide network.
STRATEGY 03
Trust requires both precision and clarity
Legal and clinical accuracy were never negotiable. The challenge wasn’t simplifying complex information. It was removing every unnecessary barrier between accurate information and human understanding.
Content Development
03
From legal ruling to human understanding.
1 | Start with the user’s reality
Every piece of content answered the reader’s immediate question before explaining the legal context. Whether someone wanted to know if abortion remained legal, whether clinics were still operating, or whether they remained protected under California law, they received that answer immediately. Legal history became supporting information, not the prerequisite for understanding.
Why: Research consistently showed that people disengaged when content required them to navigate legal context before addressing their own situation. Fear narrows attention, and the information architecture needed to acknowledge that reality rather than compete with it.
2 | Separate the message from the medium
The messaging architecture established one shared foundation while adapting its presentation for different audiences. Executive statements, legislative communications, patient FAQs, advocacy campaigns, partner briefings, and public education materials all communicated the same underlying truths through language appropriate to their audience.
Why: Without shared architecture, independently produced communications naturally drift over time. A common foundation allowed distributed teams to move quickly without sacrificing consistency.
3 | Translate complexity into action
Dense legal and healthcare language became clear decision pathways. Each experience focused on three questions: what’s true, what does it mean for me, and what should I do next. Calls to action remained singular, concrete, and achievable rather than presenting every possible option.
Why: People navigating unfamiliar healthcare or legal systems already experience cognitive overload. Reducing unnecessary choices creates confidence without reducing accuracy.
4 | Create a shared language across the system
I established terminology standards used consistently across affiliates and communication channels. Executive statements, clinical guidance, web content, advocacy materials, and social media all described the same realities using the same language.
Why: People navigating unfamiliar healthcare or legal systems already experience cognitive overload. Reducing unnecessary choices creates confidence without reducing accuracy.
Message architecture
04
Designing for consistency at scale
The messaging architecture became the foundation for communications spanning executive leadership, public policy, patient education, and statewide advocacy. Representative work included:
Statewide statement marking the one-year anniversary of the Dobbs decision
Legislative response following the election of California Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas
Budget agreement communications supporting reproductive healthcare funding
Statewide Dobbs video campaign — content strategy, messaging architecture, and creative direction to translate a national legal decision into a concise, emotionally grounded call to action
Impact
05
Built a scalable content system that unified policy, clinical, legal, and public communications, enabling teams to deliver clear, consistent, and trustworthy information at scale.
Designed a shared statewide content system supporting policy, clinical, legal, executive, and public-facing communications
Replaced fragmented affiliate messaging with a single messaging architecture that enabled distributed teams to communicate consistently during rapidly evolving events
Created reusable terminology and content standards that scaled across websites, executive communications, advocacy campaigns, patient education, and media relations
Translated complex legal and healthcare information into plain-language experiences without compromising legal or clinical accuracy
Helped strengthen public trust by making critical reproductive healthcare information easier to understand, easier to navigate, and easier to act on during a period of widespread uncertainty
Key Takeaways
06
Moments of uncertainty rarely expose a lack of information. They expose weaknesses in the systems people rely on to understand that information.
The most valuable work wasn’t any single webpage, press release, or campaign. It was designing a shared foundation that allowed dozens of teams, working across multiple disciplines and communication channels, to speak with one trusted voice while adapting to the needs of different audiences.
That’s the approach I bring to every product and content system: establish a reliable source of truth, reduce unnecessary complexity, and make the next step clear enough that people can move forward with confidence.