An Inside Look at State Advocacy in 2024
On the inaugural episode of The Voice of Advocacy podcast, Senior Vice President of Bioethics and Public Policy Dr. Jeff Barrows is joined by Director of State Public Policy Nicole Hayes to keep you informed about ways you can make a difference and advocate for the vulnerable.
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Nicole Hayes serves as Director of State Public Policy for CMDA to help advance the life-affirming, biblical principles of CMDA ethical positions through state-level legislative advocacy. In this role, Nicole utilizes state legislative tracking software to identify and track legislation within the 50 states and the District of Columbia. She develops advocacy strategies to address those initiatives and advises the Senior Vice President of Bioethics and Public Policy regarding appropriate engagement. Nicole is the founder of Voices Against the Grain, a bold counter-culture media and teaching ministry established in 2013 to help audiences successfully navigate societal issues through the Word of God. Nicole has more than 14 years’ experience as a public relations professional who has provided strategic communications and media relations to elevate educational, health, racial and social justice issues for small business, government and non-profit clients, such as the NAACP, the Office of the Chief of Army Public Affairs and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Nicole is a Voices contributor for The Christian Post and a contributing author to the book The Right to Believe: The New Struggle for Religious Liberty in America. Nicole received her bachelor of arts in broadcast journalism from Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas and her master of public administration from Regent University in Virginia Beach.
Voice of Advocacy host, Dr. Jeffrey Barrows serves as Senior Vice President of Bioethics and Public Policy for CMDA. He is an obstetrician/gynecologist, author, educator, medical ethicist and speaker. He completed his medical degree at the Des Moines College of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery in 1978 and his residency training in obstetrics and gynecology at Doctors Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. In 2006, he completed a master’s in bioethics from Trinity International University in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Barrows was called out of full-time practice in 1999 to help administrate CMDA’s Medical Education International (MEI) ministry. He served as the director of MEI from 2002 to 2005 before transitioning into the fight against human trafficking. He has dedicated 15 years of his career to fighting against human trafficking within the intersection of trafficking and healthcare, as well as the rehabilitation of survivors of child sex trafficking. Dr. Barrows has trained healthcare professionals on how to recognize and assist victims of trafficking within healthcare and has published numerous book chapters and articles. He has testified to the Ohio legislature on numerous anti-trafficking bills and is a speaker on human trafficking to the media, the church and in other venues. In 2008, Dr. Barrows founded Gracehaven, an organization assisting victims of domestic minor sex trafficking in Ohio. In 2014, he served as a member of the Technical Working Group on health and human trafficking under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families. In addition, he is a founding board member of HEALTrafficking. In 2020, Dr. Barrows published a novel entitled Finding Freedom that realistically portrays child sex trafficking in the U.S.
