Speaker Bios
- Maryland Right to Life
- Mar 12
- 7 min read
Updated: Mar 16
We are pleased to present a remarkable lineup of speakers at the Maryland Right to Life Convention who come with unique perspectives, impressive credentials, great wealths of knowledge, and powerful personal stories to share. And we are just getting started! Stay tuned as we roll out more speakers!
Speaker bios appear in alphabetical order.
JONATHAN M. ALEXANDRE, ESQ. serves as Legislative Counsel for the Maryland Family Institute. In this capacity, he is the primary voice for the Maryland Family Institute in Annapolis, testifying before committees, meeting with legislators and working with coalition allies. He is also an attorney and Senior Counsel for Governmental Affairs at Liberty Counsel, a DC-based religious liberty litigation firm. Jonathan was a presidential appointee serving on the Board of Directors for the U.S. Agency for Global Media for the Trump Administration. He holds a Juris Doctorate from Liberty University. He is married to his wife, Renee, and they are blessed with two beautiful daughters. marylandfamily.org
CHRIS ANDERSON is the chairman of the Maryland Black Republican Council. He represents the city of Baltimore on the Maryland Right to Life Board of Directors. mdbrc.org
ANDREW BAIR serves as Director of Administration for Maryland Right to Life. With more than 15 years of professional experience in the pro-life movement, he brings extensive organizational, political, and strategic expertise to his work. Prior to joining Maryland Right to Life, Andrew held several roles at National Right to Life, including Assistant Political Director and Field Coordinator. He worked closely with state affiliate groups and grassroots leaders on national and state advocacy efforts, political campaigns, and events. Andrew started his professional career at the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation. He is a graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville and is a frequent contributor to LifeNews and National Right to Life News. mdrtl.org
LAURA BOGLEY, J.D. is the executive director of Maryland Right to Life and serves as the organization's chief lobbyist at the Maryland General Assembly in Annapolis. She represents the state of Maryland on the National Right to Life Committee Board of Directors. mdrtl.org
MARY CARDOZA is the executive director of Centro Tepeyac Women's Center, a fully bilingual pregnancy help center located in Silver Spring which provides free, confidential crisis options consulting and support services to women from across DC and Maryland. centrotepeyac.org
MABEL DE LA LLANA was born in Nicaragua. She has been married for 16 years to her husband Armando, and together they have two children: Juan Diego and Mariana. The family lived for ten years in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, where their son Juan Diego was diagnosed at the age of four with a rare metabolic condition (DLD deficiency) that led to cerebral palsy. This life-changing experience deeply shaped Mabel’s journey and awakened in her a strong calling to serve others, especially in the defense of life and supporting individuals with disabilities. Mabel works as a client advocate at Centro Tepeyac Women's Center in Silver Spring, caring for vulnerable women. Her pro-life convictions and advocacy for children with disabilities are rooted in both her personal experience and her faith. centrotepeyac.org
LAURA ECHEVARRIA is the Director of Communications and Press Secretary for National Right to Life (NRLC). She previously served on the NRLC communications staff from 1994-2004 and as director of the organization’s media outreach from 1997 to 2004. Laura has appeared on all the major networks as well as on international television programs and newscasts. She has been quoted in various newspapers, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, and many other national and international publications. Laura has presented the pro-life case on a wide variety of local and national radio programs and talk shows. She has written pro-life opinion columns for several local and national publications, including USA Today, National Review, and Human Life Review. Laura lives with her husband and three children, two of whom have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders. nrlc.org
DENA ESPENSCHEID is the Senior Director of Coalitions and Director of Pro-Life Programs at the Leadership Institute. Dena has over 20 years of professional experience in politics and policy. She started as a glorified assistant for the public policy division of a pregnancy care center and an abstinence-until-marriage ministry. She has been a state lobbyist and a paid political campaigner. During her last paid campaign, she was Field Director for Donald J. Trump for President in Virginia, West Virginia, DC, and Maryland in 2015 and 2016. Since joining the Leadership Institute in 2016, she has taught more than 28,000 conservatives how to win in state legislatures and at the ballot box. In 2022, she initiated the Pro-Life Programs Division, which works with pro-life organizations to bring specialized political campaign trainings to their activists and volunteers. Since then, more than 8,000 pro-life activists have been taught how to be more effective in the political arena. leadershipinstitute.org
CATHERINE GLENN FOSTER, M.A., J.D. is the executive director of Rockville Women's Center, a pregnancy help center located in Rockville, Maryland. She previously served as the president and CEO of Americans United for Life from 2017 to 2023. Prior to AUL, she worked for Alliance Defending Freedom. Catherine earned her J.D. at Georgetown University Law Center, an M.A. in French from the University of South Florida, and a B.A. in History and French from Berry College. She has authored and testified on numerous domestic and international initiatives and pieces of legislation, appearing before the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, and other federal and state governmental bodies, including the Maryland General Assembly. rockvillewomenscenter.com
SETH JOHNSON has worked in communications and marketing for more than a decade, helping nonprofits, corporations, and tech companies tell their stories and connect with key audiences. He loves a good debate and has been active in politics for as long as he can remember, even attending pro-life marches as a child. Seth was adopted at birth and grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He recently reconnected with biological family members and has appreciated learning about parts of his story that were once unknown, all while remaining firmly rooted in the identity given to him by his adoptive family. Seth is a graduate of American University in Washington, DC. He lives near Philadelphia with his wife, Angela, and their daughter, Maria.
LORI KEHOE works for New York State Right to Life with a special focus on youth education. She coordinates Camp Esther, a pro-life training program for young people held each summer. She is the former senior congressional liaison for the department of medical ethics at National Right to Life. She has lobbied Congress on abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide, healthcare rationing, cloning, and other pro-life issues. She has appeared on CNN, C-SPAN, and Fox News television programs and been quoted in the New York Times, Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times, and many other publications nationwide. Lori is a graduate of the State University of New York at Geneseo. She and her husband, Marty, have a daughter named Rowan Blessing and two precious children in heaven. nysrighttolife.org
LIZ MOONEY is a dedicated pro-life youth activist. She is the president of an award-winning Students for Life group and a member of the Frederick County Right to Life Youth Advisory Board. This past year, she joined Students for Life's National Leaders Collective to further her knowledge of how to effectively work to end abortion. She has spoken at multiple events, including the Maryland March for Life Youth Rally and a press conference with Live Action on Capitol Hill. In Frederick County, she assists local pregnancy centers with fundraising to help mothers in need. In November 2025, Liz received Maryland Right to Life's "Rising Star" Award in recognition of her pro-life work. frederickcountyrighttolife.org
DR. MICHAEL NEW is an Assistant Professor of Practice at The Catholic University of America, a Senior Associate Scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute, and a Paige Comstock Cunningham Senior Fellow at Americans United for Life. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate from Dartmouth College, Dr. New received a master’s degree in statistics and a doctorate in political science from Stanford University in 2002. Dr. New researches and writes about the social science of sanctity of life issues. He gives presentations on both the positive impact of pro-laws and the long-term gains in public support for the pro-life position. He has been a guest on both EWTN News Nightly and CNN International. He appears frequently on Catholic Radio and is a frequent blogger on National Review Online's "The Corner."
GINA RUPPERT is the Executive Director of the Greater Baltimore Center for Pregnancy Concerns, where she leads programs providing free medical, educational, and support services to women facing pregnancy decisions in Baltimore City. Her personal and professional life has been shaped by her experience as an adoptive mother. She holds a Bachelor of Social Work from Frostburg State University and has a background in foster care and adoption services. Gina lives in Reisterstown, Maryland with her husband and their six children. ecfa.org
ROBERT SOLOMON is the vice president of the National Black Pro-Life Union and serves as an at-large member on the Maryland Right to Life Board of Directors. Robert is an ordained minister and Bible teacher on the radio program "Scripture Unlimited" on WOL 1450 AM. He is a volunteer at the Anacostia Gracious Arts program and has been actively involved in the pro-life movement since 1990. He resides in Prince George's County, Maryland. nationalblackprolifeunion.com
OLIVIA GANS TURNER currently serves as the president of the Virginia Society for Human Life, the first organized state pro-life group in the country, founded in 1967, and a state affiliate of National Right to Life. She is also the former director American Victims of Abortion (A.V.A.), and was a co-founder of Women Exploited by Abortion, the nation’s first post-abortion support group in the country, after her own abortion experience in 1981. She has traveled to over seventeen countries and all fifty states to speak on post-abortion syndrome and pro-life issues. She is a favorite on college campuses and is a frequent witness before legislative bodies providing testimony about the effect of abortion on women, society and abortion complications. Olivia is a regular on national news and syndicated programs. In 2015, she helped develop and appeared as the host of a popular show airing on EWTN, When They Say, You Say, which offered viewers a crash course in rebutting pro-abortion arguments. vshl.org
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