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Are you a CFC member? Although you may consider yourself part of the Clinicians for Choice community, you may not be an official member of CFC!
Join CFC now and experience what CFC has to offer.
NAF is dedicated to supporting your work by providing this special forum for you to come together to discuss the issues that affect you and your profession, and to work toward the greater involvement of NPs, CNMs, and PAs in all aspects of abortion care. Your membership in CFC is vital to our efforts to continue to provide essential resources and advocacy for NPs, CNMs, and PAs.
Yearly NAF membership dues for CFC are $50 and benefits include:
- Discounts on registration fees to NAF’s educational conferences, as well as discounts on valuable NAF clinical, legal, and patient education publications;
- Access to NAF’s newsletters, membership alerts, and legislative and clinic support updates, as well as NAF’s online special interest discussion groups;
- Eligibility to serve on NAF's Board of Directors and on Clinicians for Choice’s Advisory Committee; and
- Continuing education and networking opportunities with other NPs, CNMs, and PAs.
To learn more about Clinicians for Choice membership or to learn your membership status, please contact Emily Kane-Lee, CFC’s Coordinator, at ekanelee@prochoice.org or Alexis Zepeda, NAF’s Membership Director, at azepeda@prochoice.org.
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Like many people in the United States, people in the LGBTQI and alternative sexuality and relationship communities may face great difficulty accessing affordable, comprehensive health care. Systemic discrimination and lack of basic cultural competency prevents many people from accessing medically necessary and appropriate health care and social services. Influenced by  nursing, a model of care based in the human health experience (Newman, Sime, & Corcoran-Perry, 1991), Advanced Practice Clinicians have a unique perspective to care that separates them from their physician counterparts. With training that emphasizes and encourages visualization of the experience from the patient’s point of view, NPs, CNMs, and PAs are often able to see beliefs and values as they color the health choices of patients. (Gobble, 2009)
In an attempt to ensure access to safe, respectful, and non-discriminatory health care for the LGBTQI and Sex-Positive communities (and the diverse sub-communities within them), a quality-controlled, nationwide directory of health care providers willing and able to provide quality, culturally competent care to gender and sexual minorities must be developed. Unlike existing lists serving the various communities separately, this list will allow providers to designate areas of gender and sexuality experience and competence so patients can select providers who can meet their individual needs.
To be added to this list, please submit your entries using this quick and easy survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JudgmentFreeHealthCareProviders
Since this resource is currently being developed, please help spread the word to your NP, CNM, and PA colleagues, as well as physicians, therapists, dentists, doulas, acupuncturists, and massage therapists.
For more information about the project, please contact:
Wilhelmina Nicholson
B.S./M.S. Dual-Degree Candidate in Nurse Midwifery
New York University, College of Nursing
Board Member, Nursing Students For Choice
Mina.nicholson@nyu.edu
Please note: NAF provides this non-NAF resource for your convenience. You should make your own judgment of the accuracy and quality of the information they contain. For more information on non-NAF resources, please directly contact the person listed above.
Values clarification is an essential part of training for health care providers. This is especially true for health care professionals who deal with controversial or emotionally charged topics such as abortion. In spite of our efforts at objectivity, we all hold personal values that can influence how we respond to patients, clients, and other individuals with whom we interact.
NAF offers a values clarification workshop, which is flexible, both in terms of timing and content. A typical workshop lasts 90 minutes to two hours and incorporates a number of different activities to encourage participants to think about and articulate their attitudes and opinions related to pregnancy options and abortion. Topics addressed include:
- articulating the reasons behind their views about various aspects of abortion;
- risk-taking behavior and its relationship to unintended pregnancy;
- examining comfort level with gestational age;
- examining comfort level with circumstances of each woman's abortion decision;
- individual cases--examining potential biases;
- pregnancy options decision making;
- personal assessment of professional obligations;
- the decision to provide abortion care--motivation and obstacles; and
- understanding perspectives on abortion-related state and federal laws.
The workshop facilitator can work closely with you to develop a workshop tailored to best meet the needs of your group. To organize a workshop or to learn more, please contact Emily Kane-Lee at ekanelee@prochoice.org.
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Clinicians for Choice requests proposals for scientific papers for our third annual daylong conference devoted specifically to the needs of NPs, PAs, and CNMs at the National Abortion Federation (NAF) meeting next spring.
Interested persons should submit abstracts by January 21, 2011.
Scientific papers should address original research pertaining to developments and innovations in abortion and reproductive health care, new concepts in the management of abortion complications and post-abortion care, and strategies for meeting the medical and psychological needs of women seeking abortion care. Abstracts should not have been previously presented or published.
For more information about submitting a scientific paper, please contact Emily Kane-Lee at ekanelee@prochoice.org.
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Did you know you can take an active role in Clinicians for Choice?
CFC is currently soliciting nominations for new Advisory Committee members. For more information about the Advisory Committee or how to nominate a NP, CNM, or PA, please contact Emily Kane-Lee, CFC’s Coordinator, at ekanelee@prochoice.org.
You must be a CFC member in good standing to be eligible to serve on the CFC Advisory Committee.
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Anti-choice forces made significant gains across the country in the November election. Republicans took control of the House of Representatives, which also now has a larger anti-choice voting bloc. Democrats retained control of the Senate; however, the pro-choice voting bloc of the Senate was diminished by the loss of pro-choice and mixed-choice members. There were some notable pro-choice victories, such as in Colorado. Colorado not only elected a pro-choice governor, but also defeated the “personhood” ballot measure, which would have established legal protections for fertilized eggs, with the goal of outlawing abortion, many forms of birth control, stem-cell research, and in vitro fertilization.
In October, the Board of Directors for the American College of Nurse Midwives (ACNM) supported the establishment of a caucus to share information, network, and act as a resource for ACNM members who support the inclusion of abortion content in education and participation by midwives in abortion care. The caucus is currently welcoming new members! If you’re interested in joining the caucus, please contact Amy Levi, CNM, PhD, FACNM, at LeviA@obgyn.ucsf.edu.
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Medical Students for Choice
Fall, 2010
For more information, please see www.ms4c.org
*Nursing students are encouraged to attend!
NAF’s Annual APC Conference
Spring, 2011
For more information, please e-mail naf_meetings@prochoice.org
*Nursing students are encouraged to attend!
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In an effort to provide you with a useful resource, we would like to know what you think about the CFC newsletter. Please feel free to send your comments and suggestions to Emily Kane-Lee at ekanelee@prochoice.org.
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