Midwives, Nurses, and APCs in Abortion Care: Resources
This is a quick guide after today’s Supreme Court decision overturned the constitutional right to abortion care. I’ll keep adding to this as information becomes available in the next few days. To keep following along, subscribe to my free newsletter here, which includes a twice monthly abortion update issue. - Stephanie
Want to support people in your life and community seeking an abortion right now?
Visit ineedana.com to find abortion care right now - another resource is AbortionFinder.org for state abortion laws, statewide and regional resources, and info on finding a verified nearby provider.
Know this: Abortion care is incredibly safe and effective, but if you need emergency follow-up for any reason and fear recrimination, you do not have to tell anyone that you are following up for an issue from the abortion, including the healthcare team. Tell them you are pregnant and now bleeding/cramping/etc. No provider or legal system can verify if your bleeding, cramping, or other symptom is caused by an abortion or a miscarriage - there is no blood test for abortion medications, and no visual exam can verify an abortion procedure performed by a trained clinician. You never need to tell a healthcare provider that you used abortion medications or had a procedure if you have to present for emergency follow-up care.
Delete all period tracking applications. Tell everyone you know for themselves and their children. These can become evidence in legal follow-up in states where abortion is now, or will very soon become, illegal.
Looking to talk about abortion and funding?
1. Make sure your language is inclusive: pregnant people, people who get abortions, communities who need abortion care, etc.
2. Do not use language like: coat hanger, back alley, underground, Handmaid's Tale, enslavement, Sharia law, etc. These words are inaccurate, harmful, racist, and offensive, and they just do not at all reflect the well-established landscape for safe and quality care and funding right now.
3. Donate to local abortion funds, find yours through National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF).
4. Listen to abortion podcasts like AccessPod and BoomLawyered for up-to-date advocacy and legal information.
5. Include all abortion providers in your discussions and advocacy: nurses, midwives, advanced practice clinicians, and physicians, as well as the clinic care teams necessary to ensure abortion care happens at all.
Seeking online / in-person training or are you ready to provide & train others?
1. Join the National Abortion Federation (NAF) and specifically join Clinicians in Abortion Care
2. Join Nurses for Sexual and Reproductive Health (NSRH) for a secure members-only platform, support, and training
3. Visit Midwest Access Project (MAP) which has clinical training cycles, the next one opens July 4th
4. Visit ReproJobs and Clinical Abortion Staffing Solutions (CASS) for job listings and applications.
5. Make sure you’ve joined your profession/specialty’s internal groups and communications that support full-scope sexual and reproductive healthcare and abortion.
6. Join the Reproductive Health Access Network including the APC cluster to ensure interprofessional, collaborative support.
Want to know more about the safety and quality of Advanced Practice Clinicians (APCs) (NPs, CM/CNMs, and PAs) who provide abortion care?
1. Read the NASEM Report “Safety and Quality of Abortion Care in the United States” for all the latest research.
2. Visit the website abortionissafe.com
3. More about midwives in abortion care here.
4. Unsure if you can provide? Read more at the AP Toolkit.