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August 2022
New research highlights the role of Family Medicine in expanding abortion access
RHAP lent its perspective and expertise to the research that resulted in two recently published studies that address access to medication abortion in family medicine. “Family Physicians’ Barriers and Facilitators in Incorporating Medication Abortion” highlights the role training and technical assistance play in supporting family physicians to provide medication abortion. “Exploring the impact of mifepristone’s risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (REMS) on the integration of medication abortion into US family medicine primary care clinics” focused on the barriers to not being able to prescribe mifepristone (one of the two medications most commonly used for medication abortion in the United States) creates for people seeking abortion care. The FDA recently modified its restrictions on mifepristone, allowing the medication to now be prescribed.
Both of these articles center on how well-suited providing medication abortion is in family medicine and primary care. Providing medication abortion in primary care settings has never been more urgent. Now, as abortion care is being severely limited or outlawed in many parts of this country, clinicians in states where abortion access is safe and secure need to become abortion providers. Christine Dehlendorf, MD, lead researcher on the studies that supported both these articles, recently issued her own call to action. She notes that RHAP plays a critical role in supporting clinicians to provide abortion care. Many clinicians are heeding this call.
Since the SCOTUS leak in May, RHAP has provided technical assistance to more than 20 primary care organizations and provided continuing education in medical abortion to more than 250 primary care clinicians.
RHAP is expanding the work we do to meet this increased demand to offer abortion in primary care:
- This fall we will re-launch Insights, a monthly clinical publication offering evidence-based clinical best practice tips that support abortion and early pregnancy loss care. Sign up to receive Insights here: https://www.reproductiveaccess.org/signup-insights/
- We started offering weekly office hours to provide health care organizations with technical assistance in integrating abortion into their clinical practice. Sign up for office hours here. https://calendly.com/rhap-meetings/med-ab-office-hours
- We are actively seeking funding to launch an online learning collaborative that would support integrating medication abortion in primary care settings. Want to support our work? Donate here!
Donate to RHAP and support our community of clinicians!
Since the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Health Women’s Organization to overturn Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, states where abortion access is secure (aka “surge states”) have experienced an unprecedented rise in patients who have the privilege and resources to travel out of state to seek care. This increased demand has put enormous strain on existing abortion care providers.
The Reproductive Health Access Project has always supported primary care clinicians and health care organizations to integrate abortion care into practice, and we are now working with more clinicians and health centers than ever before. These health care providers are ready to help fill a critical void in abortion access by providing abortion care in their communities.
We know that creating new access points for abortion care in primary care can help fill gaps in abortion access. This is why RHAP is excited to announce two initiatives that will directly support primary care clinicians and health centers to provide medication abortion right now when it is most needed. Check them out below!
Insights: A free, monthly clinical e-newsletter providing primary care clinicians with essential clinical guidance that reflects the latest evidence and centers on the experiences of individuals and communities who need access to this care. Modeled on our successful Contraceptive Pearls, Insights will share practical clinical practice guidelines and clinical tools and resources that reinforce and support evidence-based, person-centered abortion care, including post-abortion and self-managed abortion.
Training and Technical Assistance: Adding a new clinical service – especially one as highly charged as abortion care- requires a great deal of time, resources, and dedication. RHAP provides primary care providers with intensive support throughout this process, which includes clinical education, values clarification training, guidance in developing clinical policies, procedures, and protocols, support in billing and coding, legal help, and more! In order to meet the moment we’re in, we’re expanding our capacity to support health centers across the country in providing abortion care.
We can’t do all this work to expand access to abortion care without you! By making a donation today, RHAP can ramp up our critical support for our clinical community.
Help us expand access to abortion care. Our clinician community and their patients need you.
Re-introducing Insights!
RHAP is excited to re-introduce Insights, a revival of our short, monthly e-newsletter offering primary care clinicians evidence-based education on abortion and early pregnancy loss care. Modeled after Contraceptive Pearls, Insights will share practice guidelines, clinical tools, and resources that reinforce and support evidence-based, person-centered abortion and early pregnancy loss care and counseling, including post-abortion and self-managed abortion. RHAP recognizes that this counseling and care may not be possible in all states and settings around the country. We still hope that this can be a helpful resource for you, the clinicians you train, and the communities you care for.
Insights will be published on the 4th Tuesday of every month. The first edition of Insights will be published on Tuesday, September 27th. Sign up to read our first Insights article in September!
RHAP would also like to extend an invitation for clinicians to sign-up and be guest writers for Insights. Each writer will receive an honorarium of $150 to compensate you for your time and effort. If you are interested in being an author or have any questions, please email either Brandy (brandy@reproductiveaccess.org) or Silpa (silpa@reproductiveaccess.org).
We are so excited to see what the future holds for Insights. Thank you and don’t forget to sign-up and have Insights delivered to your inbox each month!
Meet RHAP’s Interns
Join us in welcoming our new summer interns, Delaney and Aisha!
Delaney House, Communications Intern
Delaney (she/her) joined us this summer as our Communications Intern. Delaney recently graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Thought & Political Economy with a secondary major in Political Science. Delaney is interested in raising awareness around abortion stigma, advocacy surrounding the right to pursue parenthood, and menstrual justice. Delaney will be helping us with our communication efforts, including our social media, newsletters, and blog posts.
What sparked your passion for reproductive health care and justice?
I have always been passionate about reproductive health care and justice, as I believe everyone is deserving of unfettered access to reproductive health care. Securing reproductive justice is so crucial as reproductive justice intersects with many forms of injustice and requires tackling systems of oppression that deny autonomy and bodily freedom. Recently, my passion for reproductive health care justice grew through my experience researching menstrual (in)justice, specifically for incarcerated people, for my honors thesis project. This research helped me understand the scope of reproductive health care issues and further strengthened my commitment to advocating for reproductive justice.
What are you most excited about in your new position at RHAP as the Communications Intern?
I am most excited about learning more about communication strategies and developing a better understanding of how to most effectively utilize media to support advocacy efforts and make information more accessible.
What is currently bringing you joy?
Being outside and enjoying the warm weather is currently bringing me joy! Luckily, this summer, I’ve had the opportunity to hike and bike frequently, two of my favorite things. In July, I got to hike in the Rocky Mountains!
What are you currently reading/watching/listening to?
I am currently re-reading Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado (definitely recommend!).
Aisha Tipnis, Organizing & Advocacy Intern
Aisha is a rising senior at Brown University studying Health & Human Biology with a focus on medical anthropology and the sociopolitical context of disease. Aisha is particularly interested in complicating one-dimensional views of illness and creating change within the American medical system.
What sparked your passion for reproductive health care and justice?
I’ve been interested in health sciences and reproductive health care since I realized the inadequacies in my own public high school sexual education and my first run-ins with gynecological care. But it was interning in my sophomore year of college with Planned Parenthood and teaching sexual health curriculum to high schoolers which sparked my passion for reproductive justice. Taking a college course on reproductive justice itself further shaped my passion as I learned how scientists do not exist outside of cultural norms or political landscapes, shaping and often reinforcing the same world context that they seek to explore. Fields of medicine, research and education are all directly affected by reproductive justice (or a lack thereof); what seems simply scientific — good medical care — is far more complex.
In your new position at RHAP as the Organizing & Advocacy Intern, what are you most excited about?
RHAP is such a unique organization in the way it bridges forward-thinking advocacy with such an essential and expansive (and consequently constrained) sphere of healthcare — primary care. I am most excited to work with RHAP’s team to learn how community and education can positively impact a network of primary care providers, and in turn, their patients.
What is currently bringing you joy?
Spending quality time with family and going to the beach as often as humanly possible!
What are you currently reading/watching/listening to?
I listen to music a lot more than I read or watch anything — I’m currently on a The Sundays kick! I also cannot stop listening to Chitty Bang by Leikeli47.
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