The Reproductive Health Care and Advocacy Fellowship is a year-long intensive clinical training program that develops a diverse community of family medicine leaders to provide, teach, and advocate for access to equitable and person-centered reproductive health care, including abortion. We envision a vibrant and diverse community of clinical leaders and change-makers with the power to provide and create access to equitable and person-centered reproductive health care in the United States.  

Four out of five people in the United States receive their health care from primary care providers. Yet, fewer than 6% of family medicine residency programs provide training in abortion and comprehensive management of early pregnancy loss. Our fellowship program helps fill this training gap.

Launched in 2007, the fellowship program has trained 72 family physicians who are practicing, teaching, and creating change across the country. Fellows are chosen because of their commitment to providing abortion care in an abortion provider shortage area, developing new abortion training programs, and speaking openly about being an abortion provider. Fellows spend one year as a “trainer in training,” learning to perform abortion and procedures related to contraception and early pregnancy loss care, and learning to teach these procedures to others. Fellows also participate in a variety of leadership development and advocacy training activities throughout their fellowship year, with a particular focus on integrating a reproductive and racial justice lens into their work as physician-advocates and leaders.

We started out training just one fellow per year. With donations from grassroots supporters and a grant from the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, we have increased the number of fellows we train to 8 per year at sites in Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, and Washington state.

Applications will open in May 1, 2026. Applications will be accepted until August 31, 2026.

Once applications are closed, we will begin reviewing all submitted applications. Requests for interviews will be sent out to selected candidates in late September. Interviews will take place in October and November. Final decisions will be sent out in mid-December.

Application Opening: May 1, 2026

Application Deadline: August 31, 2026

To apply, please submit the following items:

• Fellowship Application Form (applications closed)
• Short Essay Question Responses (max 500 words each)
• Curriculum vitae (CV)
• Three Letters of Recommendation

Short Essays (max 500 words each)

1. Tell us why you are interested in the RHAP Fellowship. How do you plan to use Fellowship training to enhance access to sexual and reproductive health care? Please tell us about your career goals, commitment, and desires for providing abortion and primary care post-fellowship. 
2. The RHAP Fellowship is committed to practicing and teaching anti-racism and reproductive justice (and other forms of social justice). We aim to train fellows to develop these skills to better care for their patients, mentor learners, and dismantle systems of oppression and harm within their institutions and communities. Tell us about your experiences or interests in social/reproductive justice, as well as your goals and commitment to social/reproductive justice and anti-racism in medicine as a clinician, teacher, and advocate.
3. Tell us about your experiences and interests in advocacy. How would you like to use the Fellowship to further your advocacy and leadership goals as a family physician working to enhance access to sexual and reproductive health care? 

Letters of Recommendation

• Please provide three letters of recommendation. Letters must be on electronic letterhead with an electronic signature or a scanned PDF of the letter on letterhead with a signature. You can obtain letters of recommendation from individuals who are mentors, professors, advisors, or supervisors in any capacity in medicine/health care, not necessarily specialized or focused on reproductive health. 1 of the 3 letters may be written by a colleague (i.e., co-resident) or someone you mentor. If this individual does not have an institutional affiliation, an electronic letterhead for this letter is not necessary.
• The following are topics we would like to see in letters of recommendation. One letter does not need to cover all of these topics. Topics include your skills, dedication to, practice, and values around:
  • Patient-centered care and family medicine
  • Mentoring and teaching learners
  • Advocacy and activism
  • Social justice and health equity, including reproductive and racial justice
  • Procedural skills
  • Approach to learning
  • Commitment to reproductive health, rights, and justice.

• Recommendations should be emailed directly by the writer to fellowship@reproductiveaccess.org.

Applicants must be board-certified or board-eligible family physicians who will have completed residency training in the United States by July 1, 2027. Candidates should have the required state licenses before the fellowship start date. Recent graduates and mid-career family physicians are eligible. Candidates need not be fully trained in reproductive health procedures.

RHAP seeks to train a diverse community of leaders. We will review your application based on the following areas:

• Quality of your application
• Commitment to primary care promotion of sexual and reproductive health care, including abortion
• Commitment to practice in low-resourced/low-access settings
• Commitment to diversity, equity, and justice
• Potential for leadership, teaching, and advocacy

Do you accept applicants with no experience or a lot of experience?

• We accept applicants with previous experience as well as those without any. 
• We do not require applicants to have prior procedural abortion training. We have and do accept people with nearly no procedural training experience. In our application review, we consider your experiences and efforts in trying to seek abortion training opportunities.
• We understand that it is not possible for all people interested in this Fellowship to have abortion training exposure. 
• To strengthen your skills and application, we encourage applicants to pursue other gynecological, obstetrical, and procedural training experiences, such as miscarriage management, pap smears, IUD insertion/removal, etc.

Where can I find more information about each fellowship site?

• Visit our Fellowship Site-Specific Information page to learn more about each site. For security reasons, you will have to register an account in order to view this page.

What elective opportunities are available at each site?

• Visit our Fellowship Site-Specific Information page to learn about elective opportunities at each site. For security reasons, you will have to register an account in order to view this page.

Is the fellowship open to those outside of family medicine? What about advanced practice clinicians?

• Unfortunately, since our programs are housed within family medicine programs, the RHAP Fellowship is only open to board-certified or board-eligible family physicians by July 1st of the year they start the Fellowship. 
• There are a few other resources for training and advocacy you can look into. If you haven’t already joined the Network, the Reproductive Health and Advocacy Network is an excellent place to connect with like-minded clinicians in your community for training and advocacy opportunities. There is also the Repro TLC, NAF’s Regional Training Centers, and the Kansas Clinical Family Planning (KCFP) Fellowship that offer abortion training rotations to clinicians of various specialties and experience levels.

Can those outside of the United States apply for the fellowship?

• Current requirements for our fellowship include that applicants must be board-certified or board-eligible family physicians who will have completed residency training in the United States by July 1st of the year they would start the fellowship.

Can you accommodate visa sponsorship?

• Unfortunately, not all sites can accommodate visa sponsorship. Visit our Fellowship Site-Specific Information page to see details for each fellowship site. For security reasons, you will have to register an account in order to view this page.

Where can I find other abortion training and advocacy opportunities?

• For information about other abortion training and advocacy opportunities, join the Network. The Reproductive Health and Advocacy Network is an excellent place to connect with and learn from like-minded clinicians in your community. There is also the Repro TLC, NAF’s Regional Training Centers, and the Kansas Clinical Family Planning (KCFP) Fellowship that offer abortion training rotations to clinicians of various specialties and experience levels. PRH’s Leadership Training Academy is another excellent resource to gain further skills in advocacy and leadership. For those in California, the TEACH Fellowship is another option.

When do applications typically open and close?

• The typical application cycle is from May to August. Information for the upcoming cycle will become available in mid-April. 

Is the Reproductive Health Care and Advocacy Fellowship ACGME accredited?

• Our Fellowship is not ACGME-accredited and does not have plans to be so.

My question isn’t answered here.

• If you have any other questions, please email us at fellowship@reproductiveaccess.org

Visit our Fellowship Site Information page to learn more about each site. For security reasons, you will have to create an account in order to view this page. Please allow 2-3 days for account approval.