January 2021

 

RHAP’s response to the attacks on our nation’s democracy

We cannot remain silent in the wake of January 6, 2021. We began the day full of hope and celebration, inspired by the victories of Reverend Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in the Georgia Senate run-off, thanks to the years of hard work by state activists. Within hours, we watched in horror and dismay as acts of facist violence unfolded in real time. As Congress began certifying the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, we saw thousands of white supremacists seize the Capitol Building of the United States in an attempted coup. We witnessed the stark difference between how leniently these violent, anti-Black, anti-semitic mobs were treated by the police in comparison to how the peaceful Black Lives Matter demonstrators were attacked and assaulted by the very same police this past summer. We know that the violence in Washington D.C. and elsewhere is a culmination of not only an administration that championed, validated, and empowered white supremacy for four years, but also a continuation of this country’s legacy of violence against Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities. We are saddened and angered – but not surprised. 

There is no separating the reproductive health, rights, and justice movements from the incidents of last week. The same individuals we watched storm the Capitol are the ones who protest at clinics and health centers, harass clinicians, and threaten the safety of those seeking abortion care. The current President and elected officials in Congress who have validated and incited the actions of white supremacists are the same ones who pass harmful restrictions on health care and abortion care provision that disproportionately affect BIPOC, rural, and low-income communities. These are the same individuals and institutions that perpetuate discriminatory policing, economic and environmental injustices, and other systems of oppression that undermine people’s autonomy to access reproductive health care and to parent the children they have in safe, sustainable communities.

On January 21st a new administration will take office. We have a chance to create change. However, we can not only rely on elected officials in Washington to move us forward. It must come from all of us, from the clinicians we work with, the communities they serve, and through organized action. 

The Reproductive Health Access Project acknowledges that the medical system within which we operate is rooted in the very same legacy of white supremacy that has a history of violence and trauma towards BIPOC. We reaffirm to you our commitment to deep self-reflection, deliberate change, and our continued work towards becoming an organization that is truly anti-racist. 

 

Supporting Your Work as COVID Continues

As COVID-19 continues to spread throughout the country, many of the clinicians in our RHAP community are still working hard to ensure that their patients are able to access reproductive health care that is safe, patient-centered, and accessible. At the beginning of the pandemic, RHAP created a collection of COVID-19 Reproductive Health Care Resources. This page includes newly created or adapted resources to help clinicians think through how to provide services, adjust practices, and expand processes in order to continue to offer reproductive health care to patients. We have included policies and protocols to limit unnecessary testing or visits, and the page includes a presentation on the Innovations in Reproductive Health Care During COVID-19.  We have also included materials from our partners and allies that will help inform clinicians of evolving practices and suggestions for providing reproductive health services during this time. We hope that these resources, and the entirety of our library, continue to be a source of support during these tumultuous times. If you have a resource to add, or would like to see a resource created to support the work you are doing to provide remote reproductive health care via telehealth, please reach out to our Program Manager, Jordan Silverman, jordan@reproductiveaccess.org.

 

End of Year Fundraising Success

Thanks to over 200 supporters, we raised over $120,000 for our year-end campaign! Your support and the impact it has on clinicians and patients keep us inspired. Thank you for taking a stand for reproductive health care and committing to expand access to this necessary care. RHAP will now be able to expand to 5,000 clinicians in our Network and mobilize them to raise their voices to protect and expand access to reproductive health care.

We are ready to take on 2021 with full force by engaging clinicians to use their voice, platform, and power to speak out for accessible and safe reproductive health policies and laws. Thank you for standing with us as we build a national movement of primary care clinicians who are dedicated to providing and protecting access to abortion, contraception, and miscarriage care across the country.

 

Get to Know Our New Regional Clinical Network Leaders

Get to know our new Regional Clinical Network Leaders!

In the New Year, we are excited to grow our team of Regional Clinical Network Leaders (RCLs)! Our RCL team was created to build out the Network’s regional approach to our administrative advocacy efforts within one of the largest professional organizations in medicine – the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). Drs. Dalia Brahmi, Razel Remen, and Moira Rashid have joined Dr. Linda Prine as clinical experts providing mentorship, regional insight, and support to our amazing AAFP Liaisons – Network Leaders organizing within the AAFP to support full-spectrum reproductive health care and center health equity and justice in family medicine. Meet our new RCLs here:

 

Dalia Brahmi, MD, MPH (she/her) | RCL – Southeastern United States

What sparked your passion for reproductive health care and justice?

Prior to starting medical school, I was active in international human rights work and viewed the practice of medicine and caregiving through this lens. During my Family and Community residency training at UCSF, my primary care practice was at a refugee health clinic and I conducted medical evaluations for asylum seekers who had survived torture. My passion for human rights drew me to sexual and reproductive health care when I was exposed to the full spectrum of care including family-oriented maternity care, abortion and contraception care, treatment of infertility, and promoting sexual health. Although I did not have the words to express my passion for “reproductive justice,” I saw the interconnected challenges of the people and communities for which I cared. I am inspired by my immigrant parents and my grandmothers, one of which was an Indigenous midwife in Algeria who experienced daily the connections between the women she cared for being able to have healthy pregnancies, raise strong families, and manage their reproductive health in a society and time where women ruled the household but had limited agency over decisions outside of the home.

I am dedicated to prioritizing human rights in my work above all else and view health care not only as a means to improve the health of individuals and communities, but as a necessary way to alleviate historical harms and intersecting oppressions. Those who have most often been marginalized, whether by colonialism and racism or geography and class, are part of structures that lead to health inequities (whether it’s lead poisoning or abortion access) and they deserve our urgent attention in order to attain the highest standard of care. It’s not enough to have access to abortion; we need access to high-quality abortion that respects a person’s dignity and leaves them with a sense of self-worth and respect. 

In your new position at RHAP as a Regional Clinical Leader for the Southeast, what are you most excited about?

I am most excited about the opportunity to mentor and work with creative and energetic physician advocates who are dedicated to advocating for their patients and their communities by working through the AAFP, a physician professional organization representing over 136,000 family physicians in the U.S.  AAFP Liaisons in the Southeast are working hard to integrate comprehensive reproductive health care into their family medicine work and create opportunities to impact community health at the intersection of social justice issues especially relevant to our region: mass incarceration, police brutality, rising inequities in maternal and infant mortality and immigration policies that erode families and harm children.  

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I love to spend time outside walking endless hours with friends, family, and my new puppy, Archie! I love exploring new cities, small villages, or the woods behind my house in North Carolina. My other passion is music. Sadly, the live venues are closed for the moment but normally I attend a lot of musical events and am lucky to live in a part of the country that attracts inspiring music and dance.  

Please share one of your favorite authors. Or, please share an activist who you would recommend following on Twitter. 

I love poetry and one of my favorite books is The Moons of August by Danusha Lameris.

 

Razel Remen, MD (she/her) | RCL – Midwestern United States  

What sparked your passion for reproductive health care and justice?

In my early twenties, I was in a very unhealthy relationship in which I experienced reproductive coercion and three unintended pregnancies. I remember being treated badly and judged without anyone bothering to find out what was going on in my life. Later as a medical student and resident, I realized my experience was not unique, that people across different identities are frequently judged and mistreated for their reproductive health choices. Some people are shamed by the medical community for being sexually active, for continuing a pregnancy, for terminating a pregnancy – no matter what decision they make, they can never win.

In your new position at RHAP as a Regional Clinical Leader for the Midwest, what are you most excited about?

I am excited at the idea of coalition building. There are so many of us doing amazing work, however our movement has largely been unsuccessful over the past few years because it is so fragmented. I look forward to creating a sense of unity and community where we can work as a block toward goals.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I like to travel. I have lived in all 4 corners of the U.S. and the Midwest and have been to every state in the U.S. at least once with the exception of Maine and Hawaii. I have never been to Africa and would love to one day explore the continent. I love to cook, I have a healthy, fresh gourmet food obsession. I enjoy camping and spending time with my 11-year old, my cats, and my chickens. I can beat most people in Scrabble.

Please share one of your favorite authors. Or, please share an activist that you would recommend following on Twitter. 

I love reading Sci-fi/ fantasy/futuristic novels written by Africans/African Diasporans. One of my favorite authors is Octavia Butler, who was a visionary. I would recommend reading Parable of the Talents and Parable of the Sower. I literally cried when she died. I was so heartbroken at the idea she would never write again. I also love Nnedi Okorafor, especially her Binti series.

I don’t use Twitter but I am passionate about Independent Media podcasts and follow Democracy Now, Intercepted, and Black Agenda Radio. 

 

Moira Rashid, MD, MPH (she/her) | RCL – West Coast/Pacific Northwest

What sparked your passion for reproductive health care and justice?

I initially became interested in reproductive health in college while working as a medical assistant at Planned Parenthood. It was then that I realized how important and life-changing access to contraception and safe abortion was for people, and what it looked like when people were denied care. Reproductive justice is an essential part of creating an equitable society. 

In your new position at RHAP as a Regional Clinical Leader for the West, what are you most excited about

I’m excited about the team I get to work with and getting to know more amazing leaders from around the country!

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I love to wander around new places, cook, hike, travel (non-pandemic times), and hang out with my fur-babies. 

Please share one of your favorite authors. Or, please share an activist that you would recommend following on Twitter. 

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Howard Zinn.