Dr. Leah Torres

Dr. Leah Torres (she/her pronouns) is currently the Medical Director of the West Alabama Women’s Center (now “WAWC Healthcare”) in Tuscaloosa, AL. As an OB/Gyn who is fellowship-trained in abortion care, she was initially hired to expand the services beyond abortion in what was previously Alabama’s busiest independent abortion clinic. She attended medical school at the University of Illinois at Chicago, completed her residency in Philadelphia, and earned a Master of Science in Clinical Investigation by completing her Family Planning Fellowship at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Dr Torres has been a fierce advocate for reproductive autonomy and access to comprehensive health care. Having practiced in Utah, southern New Mexico and now Alabama, she has experience speaking to and educating anti-choice legislators as well as navigating hostile cultural climates regarding the care she provides. Throughout her career, but more pronounced since being in the Deep South, Dr Torres has witnessed the dire consequences of othering abortion care and what actually happens to pregnant people when they are dehumanized. Since the Dobbs decision, it has only grown worse in the state with one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the nation, preventable deaths occurring in higher numbers for Black and brown people. Dr Torres helped her clinic transition from an entirely cash-based revenue to the less-than-predictable insurance reimbursement, grant awards, tax deductible donations and self-pay revenue and so can speak to the unsustainability of our country’s capitalist healthcare system.