November 2017

Thank You!

Thanks to those of you who joined us to celebrate the 10^th anniversary of the Reproductive Health Care and Advocacy Fellowship! There were about 120 supporters in the room who helped raise over $37,000 to support the expansion of the fellowship. 

There is a national shortage of access to reproductive health services. While this has long been the case, access is becoming now more restrictive than ever. Family physicians are well-positioned to help ensure  every community has access to contraception, abortion, and miscarriage care. But, presently family medicine residency programs do not provide adequate reproductive health training, making it paramount to have specialized fellowship training programs like ours.

The Reproductive Health Access Project aims to integrate full-spectrum reproductive health care into primary care by supporting and training clinicians to help them integrate abortion, contraception, and miscarriage care. And thanks to you, we can continue the work. THANK YOU!

Click here to view more images from the event.  Remember to ‘Like’ our Facebook page! 

 

#GivingTuesday

This is the fifth year RHAP is participating in the #GivingTuesday campaign. #GivingTuesday was created as a national day of giving to kick-off the holiday season. It celebrates and encourages charitable activities that support nonprofit organizations like ours. #GivingTuesday takes place on November 28^th, the Tuesday right after Thanksgiving.

All gifts to us on #GivingTuesday will directly support our on-the-ground work to expand access to reproductive health care.  Having access to reproductive health care means getting the health care you need, creating the family you want if and when you want it, and being in control of your body. A donation to the Reproductive Health Access Project ensures that we can continue to train and support clinicians to make reproductive health care accessible to everyone, everywhere in the U.S..

This year, a generous donor has agreed to give $2 for every $1 we raise, up to $5,000 on #GivingTuesday. So, mark your calendars for November 28, 2017 to help integrate abortion, contraception, and miscarriage care into primary care practice by making a donation to RHAP on #GivingTuesday!

 

Black Friday and Cyber Monday Sale!

RHAP is having a sale! In honor of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, our patient education sheets, birth control user guides, and clinical tools, including our popular “Your Birth Control Choices” poster, will be 15% off using the promo code “cyber2017”.  We offer these resources in high quality color prints that are great for health centers, doctor’s offices, and school clinics.

We constantly update our sheets to be sure they reflect the latest evidence in clinical care. All of our patient education sheets are available in English, Spanish, Hindi, Vietnamese, Traditional and Simplified Chinese!

Whether your patients want to compare different methods of contraception, understand their early abortion or miscarriage options, or get information about how to switch contraception methods, our decision aids are an asset to patient-centered care.

Use the code “cyber2017” after entering your payment information to take advantage of this sale from November 24^th – November 27^th and get 15% off your entire order!

 

Reflections on Reproductive Justice and Leadership Development

Naomi (RHAP’s Operations Associate) and Natalie (RHAP’s Program Associate) were invited to attend the New Leadership Network Initiative (NLNI), a project of CLPP, a reproductive justice-focused organization working to educate, train, and support new and old activists in pushing for reproductive rights, freedom, and justice for all. This year, NLNI was held as a pre-conference to SisterSong’s 20^th Anniversary conference, Let’s Talk About Sex!

The term “Reproductive Justice” debuted at SisterSong’s first national conference in 2013 and was coined by Black women at the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, Egypt in 1994. The reproductive justice framework expanded the conversation around reproductive rights by applying a human rights perspective to the work. Reproductive justice aims to secure a person’s right to: 1) have or not to have a child under the conditions they wish to do so and 2) parent in a safe and healthy environment without fear of individual or systemic violence. NLNI and SisterSong centered the importance of taking a reproductive justice approach to our collective work, pushing its attendees to “RESIST. RECLAIM. REDEFINE.” their own position and work in the movement.

NLNI and SisterSong were held in New Orleans. Known for its music, eclectic cuisine, and rich history, NOLA proved to be an excellent destination for these meetings. The first presentation at NLNI, “Activism on the ground: New Orleans”, was given by the Reproductive Justice Action Collective (ReJAC), Women with a Vision, and BreakOUT! The presentation discussed work being done to expand access to reproductive health in NOLA, including Plan B NOLA, an initiative by ReJAC and Women with a Vision that provides free and by donation emergency contraception locally through city-wide collaborations. The second session, facilitated by New Voices for Reproductive Justice and KIMBRITIVE, provided attendees with the space and tools necessary to connect, discuss, collaborate, and strategize on reproductive justice issues that matter to them. The final presentation, “Fired up and burnt out: Keeping it together in uncertain times,” was led by the Icarus Project. The Icarus Project presented on the importance of self-care, especially for social justice activists during this era.

Although our trip was cut short due to Hurricane Harvey, we were able to attend four out of the six workshop sessions offered at SisterSong. During the first session, we attended “Moving beyond hiring people of color: Centering anti-oppression in white-dominated spaces” where we discussed the experiences of people of color working in white-dominated reproductive justice spaces, reflected on these experiences, and developed a manifesto on what truly anti-oppressive organizational leadership in these spaces would look like. For the second session, we attended “Inspiring proactive strategies: A listening session with researchers and advocates working to address disparities in abortion access and care” where panelists from Ibis Reproductive Health, the Center for Reproductive Rights, All* Above All, and National Abortion Federation discussed different evidence-based strategies their respective organizations had taken to address ‘post-fact’ era attacks on abortion rights. The third session we attended, “The political economy of reproductive violence: Interrogating U.S. social policy and the violence of disposability” explored how changing economic systems have produced violent reproductive policies that have regulated, criminalized, and policed bodies of color throughout history and presently. The final session we went to, “Calling in physicians: Developing strategies to educate physicians and all for mutual efforts” was led by representatives from the RJ MedEd Project in collaboration with Loretta Ross, one of the pioneers of the reproductive justice movement. At this session, RJ MedEd presented their RJ-focused curriculum for physicians, developed with the intent of training them to better address medical injustices.

As a reproductive health organization, we are fortunate to be invited to this space to learn more ways to incorporate aspects of the reproductive justice structure into our everyday work. 

 

New Interns!

RHAP values the work that our interns do to contribute to our mission of making reproductive health care accessible to all. We are fortunate to have two amazing women join our team this fall!

Kallie McLoughlin is a recent graduate of Clark University where she majored in Political Science.  Her passion for reproductive justice was sparked by her work at Clark’s student-run sexual health resource center where she volunteered as an educator for other students. During her time at Clark, Kallie interned with Planned Parenthood of New York City and ran the campus’ Bedsider chapter for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.  She included her interest in reproductive justice in her academics as well, writing her thesis on sex education policy in the United States.

Kallie is a New York City native who is excited to be back and interning with RHAP!  During her free time, you can find her working on a crossword or listening to a podcast.

Rachael Pelton is a Masters of Social Work student at Silberman School of Social work at Hunter college. She has been working to increase reproductive health access since 2013 beginning with Fordham University where she received her BSW degree in 2017. This experience of attempting to change restrictive reproductive health policies led her to pursue a future in community organizing as well as an internship with RHAP. She is very excited to work with us and hopes to continue to work towards Reproductive Justice post-grad.