Opportunities for obtaining abortion training are not limited to medical students and residents. A growing number of Postgraduate training opportunities in abortion, family planning, and reproductive health are available in the United States and internationally. These programs are ideal for health care providers interested in pursuing intensive training and research opportunities.
In addition to these formal postgraduate training programs, clinicians who have not obtained abortion training as part of their formal medical education can obtain individual abortion training with NAF members.
Fellowship in Family Planning
The Fellowship in Family Planning is the only fellowship in the United States that provides the opportunity for high-level research and clinic skills in family planning and abortion. The objective of the program is to improve health care in family planning and abortion. Working with respected and innovative leaders in the field, fellows will develop advanced skills in clinical care and research. The fellowship also offers teaching experience and the opportunity to work in an international setting. Fellows have the option of pursuing a Masters in Public Health or a Masters of Science.
Specifically, the fellowship focuses on:
Clinical Care:
- All methods of pregnancy termination
- All diagnostic methods to confirm uterine and tubal pregnancy, including ultrasound
- Anesthesia and pain control
- Treatment of complications and hysterectomy
- All methods of family planning currently available and under investigation, including Norplant and IUDs
- Sterilization
- Gynecologic surgery
Clinical Research:
- Study design
- Grant writing
- Statistical analysis
- Opportunity for structured clinical research
- Guidance and potential funding for research studies in abortion and family planning to further the fellow's ability to be an independent investigator
For more information and a listing of Fellowship Directors and programs, visit the Fellowship in Family Planning.
Planned Parenthood of New York City, Inc., Clinician Training Initiative
In 1993, Planned Parenthood of New York City (PPNYC) launched the Clinician Training Initiative (CTI) with a two-fold mission: to train medical practitioners to provide abortion services, and to advocate for increased access to high-quality abortion services. The Clinician Training Initiative's comprehensive training program uses a curriculum approved by officials from the American College of Obstetricians
and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the Council on Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology (CREOG). Trainees receive classroom instruction; hands-on, one-on-one surgical training; and must pass a final post-training evaluation based on their competency in providing abortion services. Since its inception, CTI has expanded its training program to include medical abortion, emergency contraception, reproductive health counseling and management, and colposcopy.
For more information about the CTI, contact Planned Parenthood of New York City, Inc., Clinician Training Initiative: (212) 274-7255.
Soros Reproductive Health and Rights Fellowship
The Program on Reproductive Health and Rights supports the Soros Reproductive Health and Rights Fellowship, which is administered by the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health, at the Mailman School of Public Health, at Columbia University. The program's mission is to invite scholars and activists to engage in collective discussion, research, analysis, and publication to advance progressive reproductive health and rights policies around the world.
The Soros Reproductive Health and Rights Fellowship seeks to:
- bring together U.S. and international scholars and scholar-activists from a broad variety of disciplines to stimulate and enrich each others' work;
- support research and writing that advances gender equality and the recognition of reproductive rights and women's rights as human rights; and
- produce an edited volume and other materials that will serve as intellectual resources for policy makers, activists, academics, and students.
For detailed information about the Soros Reproductive Health and Rights Fellowship, visit the Soros Foundation.
Ellertson Fellowship in Abortion and Reproductive Health
The Charlotte Ellertson Social Science Postdoctoral Fellowship in Abortion and Reproductive Health invites applications for the 2008-2010 fellowship cohort. The fellowship's objectives are to:
- support a multidisciplinary cohort of promising new social science researchers who study abortion and reproductive health, and
- produce and share research that informs policy and program design in abortion and reproductive health.
The fellowship seeks applicants who are committed to abortion scholarship and careers that include a focus on abortion research and advocacy. Please visit the Ibis Reproductive Health website for more information on the fellowship and the application process.
The fellowship includes independent and collaborative research, as well as work with advocacy organizations. Each fellow works intensively with a mentor on her/his specific research projects. A fellowship site director provides general guidance and orientation to the fellowship site. Fellows work with their mentors to:
- design research protocols
- conduct a significant research project
- submit manuscripts or book proposals for publication
- give presentations and/or seminars
- submit funding proposals
- participate in skills-building seminars (e.g., media and communications, fundraising, the policy process) and annual meetings
- visit clinics and hospitals to observe abortion and reproductive health care services
- collaborate with and lend expertise to reproductive health and rights advocacy organizations
- develop professional networks of researchers, advocates and clinicians
Each fellow receives an annual stipend between $50,000 and $55,000 (depending on the site), health benefits, and educational loan repayment assistance. Fellows may also apply for up to $15,000 per year to support individual research projects. Fellowships are for two years, with the second year contingent on successful completion of the first.
The fellowship has five sites:
- Columbia University's Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health in the Mailman School of Public Health (New York, NY)
- Guttmacher Institute (New York, NY)
- Ibis Reproductive Health (Cambridge, MA)
- Johns Hopkins University's Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health and the Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health in the Bloomberg School of Public Health (Baltimore, MD)
- University of California, San Francisco's Bixby Center for Reproductive Health Research & Policy, at the School of Medicine, in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences (San Francisco, CA)
The application period for the 2008-2010 cohort opened September 24th, 2007. Please visit the Ibis Reproductive Health website for more information on the fellowship and the application process. Please email fellowship@ibisreproductivehealth.org with any questions.
Many NAF members are committed to training new clinicians in order to ensure future generations of abortion providers can continue to deliver the highest quality services to women. As a part of this commitment, many NAF clinics serve as sites for purposes of providing abortion training.
Obtaining abortion training in a NAF clinic presents incredible opportunities:
- Comprehensive Skill Building - Clinicians learn patient counseling, pelvic exams, ultrasound, uterine sizing, surgical technique, pain management, and management of complications. In addition, patient volume in clinics presents opportunities for training to competency, and trainees are able to develop increased sensitivity toward abortion patients.
- High Quality Medical Care - NAF membership is comprised of a number of nationally recognized researchers, clinicians, and educators. All NAF clinics certify compliance with NAF's Clinical Policy Guidelines, the standards of care in the delivery of abortion services.
- Research Opportunities in Abortion - Many NAF members are nationally recognized researchers, clinicians, and educators engaged in the most up-to-date development of new abortion technique and research around the delivery of abortion care.
More information about obtaining abortion training with a NAF member.
In addition to training programs and opportunities focused specifically on the medical aspects of abortion, a number of trainings and programs are available from NAF and other organizations to support the initiation and integration of abortion care into a clinical setting that does not yet provide these services.
NAF's Clinical Services Department provides training and assistance to clinics across the country to help providers initiate or improve their medical abortion services. NAF staff are able to provide technical assistance in person during quality assurance site visits, as well as electronically and by phone in the interim. These support services range in topic depending on clinic needs and include connecting clinics with resources such as ultrasound training, staff values clarification, developing and refining protocols, administration, and much, much more.
If you have a training need, please contact NAF at 202-667-5881.
The Access Project is dedicated to the integration of early abortion into primary medical care. They are able to provide independent clinicians as well as organized clinical settings, such as residency programs, help to integrate and initiate early abortion services into existing primary care services through technical assistance and support. The Access Project provides resources ranging from the clinical - including protocols and procedures, charting, forms and documentation - to the practical - such as staff attitudes assessment, values clarification, and communicating with patients. Information about the support and resources available from The Access Project
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