OUR MISSION
To ensure everyone has full access to essential reproductive, sexual, and gender-affirming care regardless of zip code, and unencumbered by cost, discrimination, ideology, or stigma.
Our Vision
A new model of care that facilitates timely, accessible, and affordable abortion, reproductive, and gender-affirming care to anyone who needs it regardless of where they live, and that protects providers and patients from any barriers infringing on their rights to provide or receive the care they need.
How We Work
HCAB works with doctors, lawyers, human rights advocates, and concerned citizens to promote universal access to essential care by 1) supporting new and rapidly evolving models of care that better meet the needs of all people, including de-medicalization of care where appropriate; 2) advocating for effective harm reduction strategies wherever necessary; and 3) conducting public education on the dangers of criminalizing healthcare.
Our Team
Jodi L. Jacobson
Founder and Executive Director,
Healthcare Across Borders
She/Her/Hers
Jodi L. Jacobson is a non-profit founder and executive director, former lobbyist, policy analyst, major donor advisor, and journalist with a track record of building successful organizations, publications, and departments from the ground up. Throughout her career, Jacobson has worked extensively with democracy and health movements worldwide to shape law and policy on public health, human rights, and evidence-based care in international agencies, at the United Nations, and in the United States.
She was the founder and editor in chief of Rewire.News; the founder and executive director of the Center for Health and Gender Equity; and the inaugural director of advocacy for American Jewish World Service. From November 2019 to April 2023, Jacobson was the Senior Director of Foundation Relations for Movement Voter Project where she raised over $40 million for grassroots organizing in the United States.
Jacobson served on several United Nations Expert Groups, and helped write and negotiate several key international human rights agreements to which the United States was a signatory, including the Vienna Convention and Programme on Human Rights, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and the ICPD Plan of Action. She has worked on landmark legislation including PEPFAR, the Violence Against Women Act and International Violence Against Women Act, and both appropriations and authorization bills on reproductive and sexual healthcare. She is the founder and now executive director of Healthcare Across Borders, an initiative to ensure everyone in the United States can access essential reproductive, sexual, and gender-affirming care irrespective of where they live.
Murshed Zaheed
Communications Team,
Healthcare Across Borders
He/Him/His
Murshed Zaheed is one of the top hybrid legislative, policy, and digital strategists in American politics. He has more than 20 years of experience as a progressive leader, organizer and advocate in a career that stretches from the Congressional corridors in Washington DC to the Bay of San Francisco. He has worked and consulted for top nonprofit organizations, corporations, and national campaigns creating winning multi-channel grassroots advocacy campaigns and communications programs. Prior to finding Pacifica, he served as the Political Director of CREDO Mobile – a social change-oriented corporation renowned for being a progressive powerhouse of activism and philanthropy. Murshed’s years of experience as a senior leadership aide in Congress include his position as Director of New Media and Senior Leadership Advisor for late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. He was also a member of Gov. Howard Dean’s groundbreaking digital team during his 2003–2004 presidential campaign. Murshed has a B.A. in political science from UCLA and a J.D. from Boston University School of Law. He is a member of the bars in Washington D.C. and in Massachusetts.
Alexa Gelbard
Communications Team,
Healthcare Across Borders
She/Her/Hers
Alexa is an experienced communications professional driven by a passion for storytelling, a commitment to social justice, and an understanding that the two are intimately connected. Her years of experience include both PR agency and in-house nonprofit work leading strategic communications, media relations, and brand and message development for progressive organizations, leaders, and activists. Alexa has worked on a variety of issues, including banning solitary confinement, abolishing immigration detention, environmental justice, labor rights, voting rights, and health care expansion. She has written and placed op-eds and secured a diverse range of media coverage in outlets including The New York Times, NBC, The Advocate, Colorlines, The Hill, Mother Jones, and TechCrunch. She has also coordinated the national releases of two books addressing criminal justice, migration, and displacement in the U.S., as well as a field guide on social-justice storytelling. Alexa grew up in Los Angeles and holds a degree in communications from the University of Pennsylvania.
Louie Tan Vital
Communications Team,
Healthcare Across Borders
She/Her/Theirs
Louie Tan Vital is a Filipina progressive communications professional working at the intersection of media, grassroots organizing, and legislative advocacy. Prior to Pacifica, Louie worked at Megaphone Strategies, where she helped clients including Action Center on Race and the Economy and Hip Hop Caucus build their media relationships, draft messaging, and land stories in national and targeted outlets. She has also worked in policy and communication roles at the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, the Washington State House of Representatives, and the U.S. House of Representatives. Louie is a published writer, poet, and spoken-word artist whose work has appeared in NBC News, Washington State’s Public Affairs Network, and other national and regional outlets. She received her MPA from the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance and B.A. in Political Science and Communications at the University of Washington.