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Primary Care Initiative

ANSIRH’s Primary Care Initiative (PCI) aims to expand access to early abortion care by integrating sexual and reproductive health care within primary health care. To advance this goal, PCI projects focus on translating evidence into health care practice and policy. ANSIRH’s current work in this area is centered on building partnerships between health professional organizations, reproductive health advocates, primary care providers, and state regulatory bodies. In developing these relationships, we aim equip providers, advocates, and policymakers with the resources necessary to apply innovative health workforce and care delivery models that will best serve their patients and communities.  

Current PCI efforts are focused on the role of nurses in the provision of abortion and sexual and reproductive health care. As part of a national collaboration of nurse researchers and scholars, ANSIRH is focused on addressing health systems barriers for individuals seeking abortion and sexual and reproductive health care and the role of nurses in ameliorating that need.

Prior work from the Primary Care Initiative

Providing Abortion Care: A professional toolkit for nurse-midwives, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants (the Toolkit), created in collaboration with Provide and the National Abortion Federation, is a professional guide for clinicians who provide or would like to provide abortion care, and for the advocates who support them. It offers background information on clinical skills, integrating abortion care into existing practice, and resources for professional advancement regardless of practice area.

The HWPP #171 study was a California-based, multi-site, six-year study of CNMs, NPs, and PAs as providers of early aspiration abortion care. This study, which concluded in December 2013, collected data from almost 20,000 patients and trained nearly 50 nurse midwives, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants to competency in aspiration abortion care. A summary of the study’s findings, as well as a description of the clinician training and curriculum are available as well as the study’s peer reviewed articles.

California SB 24, also known as the College Student Right to Access Act, will expand medication abortion access on California State University (CSU) and University of California (UC) campuses. ANSIRH conducted studies to estimate the demand for medication abortion among students, to understand the barriers students currently face seeking abortion off-campus, and to evaluate whether student health centers have the capacity to provide medication abortion care on campus.