June 2021

Join Us in Celebrating Pride! 

This month we come together in celebration of Pride! Pride month, hosted each year in June, honors the dynamic and resilient LGBTQIA+ community and commemorates the 1969 Stonewall riots – a night of resistance foundational to the modern-day gay liberation movement. While June is a period for celebration, community, and love, we also recognize the barriers that LGBTQIA+ people continue to face in accessing health care year-round. Like contraception, miscarriage, and abortion care, necessary and gender-affirming health care for queer folks is often financially burdensome, relegated to urban areas or specialized clinics, shut out of insurance coverage, or simply not prioritized at the institutional level.

RHAP recognizes that our mission to make comprehensive reproductive health care accessible to everyone requires centering the needs of LGBTQIA+ folks in our work and celebrating what we know to be true: that all people deserve access to this essential care.  

RHAP is in solidarity with the queer folks within and throughout our organization, our community, our movement, and beyond. We are committed to prioritizing their experiences in our work and striving to ensure their access to comprehensive reproductive care, including abortion care. This month, we commit to sharing events and opportunities to learn during Pride, and throughout the year, we are committed to centering the needs of queer folks in our work. 

Resources & Actions:  

Donate to the Kentucky Health Justice Trans Health Advocacy Program 

Donate to the Trans Justice Funding Project 

Read or share RHAP’s Birth Control Across the Gender Spectrum Fact Sheet 

Donate to For the Gworls

Donate or work with your local mutual aid fund 

Donate to Trans Lifeline

Breaking News: Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) is Reintroduced 

Today, June 8th, marks the official reintroduction of the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA)! This groundbreaking piece of federal legislation works towards a future where everyone, everywhere is free to make the personal decisions that shape their lives, futures, and families, without political or legislative interference. And the timing has never been more urgent, as state lawmakers continue their relentless efforts to ban access to abortion care, and the Supreme Court prepares to hear Jackson Women’s Health v. Dobbs, a case that could determine the future of Roe v. Wade. 

We know that Roe v. Wade, while important, does not mean that everyone is actually able to access abortion care. The hundreds of state laws – and federal restrictions such as the Hyde Amendment – that restrict and ban abortion have already made this care inaccessible for millions of people. The people who have been most hurt by these restrictions are those who already face barriers to accessing health care – including rural communities, people working to make ends meet, Black, Indigenous and People of Color, women, queer folks, immigrants, young people, and people with disabilities. The WHPA would address these barriers head on, essentially making the medically unnecessary restrictions and bans that impede access for people unlawful. This legislation also aims to create a statutory right for clinicians to provide abortion care. 

WHPA is a bill that works hand-in-hand with the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance (EACH) Act of 2021. EACH is a federal bill that would eliminate all coverage restrictions on abortion care at the federal level, including the Hyde Amendment. Given that President Biden recently released a budget free from Hyde now is the time to continue pushing Congress to pass these bills and transform abortion access across the country. 

Here’s what you can do TODAY: 

• Contact your members of Congress and urge them to support WHPA.
• Amplify the call for Congress to #ActForAbortionAccess on social media.
  • WHPA Social Media Toolkit 

Learn more about the WHPA & stay up to date on the #ActForAbortionAccess campaign via https://actforwomen.org/.

 

Meet the Network

This month, we’re excited to invite you to learn more about RHAP’s Reproductive Health Access Network! The Network is a national movement of primary care clinicians focused on protecting and expanding access to abortion, contraception, and early pregnancy loss care in their communities and across the country. Did you know that RHAP currently has over 5,000 clinicians in our Network in all 50 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and Canada?  

Join us on June 15th at 8:30pm ET  to meet the team who organizes the Network as well as three amazing Network leaders who will share how they work with RHAP to expand access to comprehensive reproductive health care, including abortion care, in their communities. RSVP here.  

Meet our panelists:  

Maya Bass, MD, MA (she/her) 

Regional Clinical Network Leader – Northeastern/Mid Atlantic United States  

  Dr. Bass currently works as an Assistant Professor and Assistant Program Director in the Department of Family, Community, Preventative Medicine at Drexel University/Tower Health Medical Group with an interest in resident and medical student education, reproductive health, underserved care, wellness, chronic pain, and addiction. She is the Assistant Course Director for the Foundations of Patient Care Year 1 at Drexel University College of Medicine. She earned a master’s degree in Stem Cell and Developmental Biology from Wesleyan University, Connecticut. She earned her medical degree from Jefferson Medical College (now Sidney Kimmel Medical College) at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia. She completed her family and community medicine residency at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia. She completed her fellowship in the Leadership Training Academy through Physicians for Reproductive Health learning to be a physician advocate for Reproductive Rights and Justice. She is a certified trainer through Providers Clinical Support System and the Health Federation of Philadelphia to run trainings required to prescribe medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder as well as through the IMPACT program of ACOG to run trainings on management of early pregnancy loss. She is a fellow of the AAFP, Chair of the resident and medical student affairs committee for PAFP, and former AAFP liaison for the Reproductive Health Access Project. She is dedicated to providing compassionate care to stigmatized populations and to improving the overall wellness of her patients and communities. 

  

Jessica Beaman, MD, MPH (she/her) 

Co-Leader of the RHAP Internal Medicine National Cluster 

Dr. Beaman is an internal medicine physician and assistant professor in the departments of Medicine and Obstetrics, Gynecology and the Reproductive Sciences at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) who specializes in primary care to underserved populations, reproductive health, family planning and medical education. She completed her internal medicine residency at UCSF and since has dedicated her career to providing care for patients within the safety net. Her areas of research and advocacy focus on the integration of family planning services into routine primary care, destigmatizing abortion care for individuals seeking services and for clinicians providing this care, and expanding training opportunities for internal medicine residents in family planning. She completed her fellowship in the Leadership Training Academy through Physicians for Reproductive Health in 2020 and has been committed to advocating for reproductive justice issues and ensuring access to health care.  

 

Julie Jenkins, MSN, APRN, CNP (she/her) 

APRN Cluster Leader  

 Julie A. Jenkins is a sexual and reproductive health nurse practitioner and lead plaintiff in ACLU litigation challenging Maine’s physician-only abortion law, as well as a declarant in Maine Family Planning’s litigation through the Center for Reproductive Rights to defend Title X. Julie has worked for Maine Family Planning at numerous clinic sites and has been the NP at Belfast Family Planning since October of 2016. Julie also works as a Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner/Forensic Nurse Examiner (SAFE/FNE) performing sexual assault and domestic violence exams at Waldo County General Hospital, Pen Bay Medical Center, and Miles Memorial Hospital. Julie’s specialties include contraception of all types, sexual health education, colposcopy, abortion care, forensic nursing, and gender-affirming care. A longtime political activist and women’s health advocate, reproductive justice and sex positivity are guiding principles of her practice. She is board certified in Women’s Health, holds a Master of Science in Nursing from California State University, Long Beach and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Southern Maine, as well as a Bachelor of Science in Human Development and a Certificate in Women’s Studies from the University of Maine at Orono.  

 

Our Team is Growing!  

 

The RHAP team keeps on growing! Meet our new Program Coordinator and Development Intern, Brandy and Piper!

 

Brandy Bautista, Program Coordinator 

Brandy (she/her) joined us at the end of May as our Program Coordinator. Brandy graduated from California State University with a BA in Women and Gender Studies and has been working as an Administrative Medical Assistant at Planned Parenthood for nearly three years. As Program Coordinator, she’ll be providing programmatic and logistical support to our Reproductive Health Care and Advocacy Fellowship and supporting us in ensuring our patient education, clinical tools, and resources are patient-centered and reflect the latest clinical evidence.    

What sparked your passion for reproductive health care and justice? 

When I graduated college with a degree in Women and Gender Studies, I was a little lost as to what to do next. I had applied to work at my local Planned Parenthood, and I was hired. I was excited to work at Planned Parenthood since I had always been a big supporter of reproductive health. It wasn’t until I had started working there that my passion for reproductive health and justice changed and grew. We were often the only place patients could turn to for care. I got to see firsthand the true need for empathetic, quality care, and it helped to open my eyes.  My time there shaped the way I see healthcare and sparked my interest in learning more ways we could work to increase access to reproductive health. 

In your new position at RHAP as Program Coordinator, what are you most excited about? 

I love to learn new things and I am excited to learn more about the field of reproductive health and justice. As a new member, I am also interested to see what I could bring to the team. The Planned Parenthood clinic I worked at had a strong primary care and early pregnancy loss program, and I am excited to see how my experiences there can be used to helped RHAP make reproductive healthcare more accessible. 

What do you like to do in your spare time?  

In my spare time, I love to watch movies, play video games, and spend time with my family and friends. Mostly though, I spend a lot of time with my senior cat, who is very good at loudly calling for me whenever I am at home and not in his sight. 

What are you currently reading/watching/listening to?  

I have recently started reading Delusions of Gender by Cordelia Fine. I have also been watching the new Marvel shows on Disney+. As for music, I have been listening to a lot of Hozier, Bruno Mars, and Sleeping at Last lately. 

 

Piper Bonacquist, Development Intern 

Piper (she/they) joined us this April as our new Development Intern. Piper is a first-year graduate student at the University of Oregon studying nonprofit management with a particular interest in fundraising. Before grad-school, they were the co-founder and co-director of Colorado Doula Project. Piper is supporting our Manager of Individual Giving in planning and managing fundraising campaigns and developing and sustaining stakeholder relationships.  

What sparked your passion for reproductive health care and justice? 

 I can’t pinpoint a particular experience that sparked my passion for reproductive health care and justice. It’s something that I always remember being passionate about. But my first job out of college as a hotline counselor for the National Abortion Federation in 2011 really opened my eyes to the reality of the state of abortion access in the United States and made me realize how much work needs to be done. 

In your new position at RHAP as Development Intern, what are you most excited about?  

I’m excited to practice the fundraising strategies I learned in school in “real life.” To have the opportunity to put them to work in service of something I deeply believe in is extra special. 

What do you like to do in your spare time? 

As a graduate student, I don’t have much spare time, but I try to get out for walks along the river behind my apartment, cook dinner with my partner, and have video calls with my friends. 

 What are you currently reading/watching/listening to?   

I am currently reading Kingsbane, which is the second book in the Empirium trilogy by Claire Legrand. I am waiting with bated breath for the final book in the Locked Tomb trilogy by Tamsyn Muir, which I yell about to anyone who will listen. (Seriously, go read it!)