January 22, 2019, marks the 46th anniversary of Roe v Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in the United States. Lately, it seems as if every conversation at RHAP centers one way or another around Roe. What will happen if Roe falls? Where will people go to access abortion care? What states are safe…
What do papayas have to do with fighting abortion stigma? Great question! One of the ways that RHAP teaches both clinicians and non-clinicians about abortion is through the interactive Papaya Workshop. The Papaya Workshop is a hands-on opportunity to teach clinicians about manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) abortion – believe it or not, papayas are a great anatomical…
The mission of the Reproductive Health Access Project (RHAP) is to expand and protect access to reproductive health care for everyone – this includes people of all gender identities and expressions. For us, expanding and protecting access means ensuring clinicians have the training and resources to best serve the reproductive health needs of their entire community. This means…
Reproductive health is an important component of overall health for everyone. Males, however, are often overlooked in discussions of sexual and reproductive health, especially discussions around contraception. This June, in honor of Men’s Health Month, we are highlighting resources that focus on birth control options for men. Your Birth Control Choice Fact sheet highlights all…
November 18th is the fourth annual World Vasectomy Day, dedicated to broadening the conversation about family planning and raising awareness of procedure-based birth control. It’s also a day when many men and trans women can get free counseling on birth control and discounted procedures. A vasectomy is a surgical form of contraception that involves cutting…
I did two abortions this morning (among other procedures) in our neighborhood family health center. The first was a 25-year-old professional woman who came in with her best friend, having been referred from her boutique practice that does IUDs but not abortions. She was pregnant with an IUD in place and had texted me yesterday evening,…
Clinicians who provide abortion care often do not work in the areas where the need is greatest. This work can be difficult, no matter where you live. But it is hardest on those who live in areas where the laws aren’t supportive, where no one speaks about abortion openly, and where abortion is highly stigmatized.…
March 10 is Abortion Provider Appreciation Day. Abortion providers often face misunderstandings about the work they do and the environment they work in. To show our appreciation for abortion providers we are addressing one such abortion myth. At a recent organizational retreat RHAP’s Medical Director, Linda Prine, MD, fielded the following challenging question: “Do primary care clinicians…
Dr. C. is an abortion provider in Buffalo, NY and a member of our Family Medicine Reproductive Health Network. He has chosen to speak anonymously to protect himself and his family. We recently asked him what moves him to provide abortions and this was his answer. It’s simple. I provide abortions because it is basic…
I’m a pro-choice nurse practitioner and I am the only medical provider in the only clinic serving a community in the rural South. My clinic is run by a Catholic hospital. I want to share my story for a couple of reasons. One, I hope that other folks out there in similar situations (I know…