Heather Boonstra is Vice President for Public Policy at the Guttmacher Institute. She serves on the Institute’s Management Team, where she plays a key role in developing Institute-wide strategic and programmatic priorities. She provides broad oversight and day-to-day management of Guttmacher’s Policy Division, and leads our policy team to maximize the impact of Guttmacher’s research and policy analysis at the state, federal and global levels.

For five years, Ms. Boonstra held the position of Director of Public Policy; she oversaw the Institute’s advocacy efforts, equipping advocates, opinion leaders and decision makers with timely evidence and incisive policy analysis. Ms. Boonstra joined the Institute in 1999 as a Senior Public Policy Associate. In this role, she represented Guttmacher in advocacy and outreach activities with Congress, government agencies, coalition partners and other organizations. She authored numerous policy analyses on issues such as insurance coverage for abortion under Medicaid, the sexual health needs of adolescents in low- and middle-income countries, and the harms of abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Oregon and holds an MA in religion from Yale University, where she studied social and medical ethics and movement building.