Historic $18 million investment will diversify workforce and provide comprehensive sexual and reproductive health training across disciplines.
A consortium including School of Nursing leaders in sexual and reproductive health is launching California’s Reproductive Health Service Corps (RHSC), an unprecedented statewide initiative to improve access to abortion care and training and diversify the state’s reproductive health workforce.
Forty percent of California counties lack an abortion provider. Abortion providers are reporting steep increases in patients traveling from out of state where abortion is no longer available to them. Health care learners and providers are eager to help fill those gaps, but many health care professionals receive little to no education about their role or skills training in abortion care.
A key component of the program is diversifying the workforce to reflect the racial, ethnic, linguistic, and economic diversity of communities across California. California’s RHSC program stands out from other state programs by offering full-spectrum reproductive health training to all members of the care team—registered nurses, nurse practitioners, certified nurse-midwives, physician’s assistants, licensed midwives, physicians, licensed vocational nurses, doulas, medical assistants, community health workers and paramedics will all be eligible. Over the next four years, the program will help fill provider gaps in underserved areas and provide funding and technical assistance to help clinics integrate services.
The consortium is coordinated by Training in Early Abortion for Comprehensive Healthcare (TEACH) and includes; TEACH; California State University East Bay, Department of Nursing; Nurses for Sexual and Reproductive Health (NSRH); and University of California, San Francisco’s primary care advanced practice nursing specialties, Black Midwifery Fellowship, and Abortion Care Training Incubator for Outstanding Nurse Scholars (ACTIONS) program.
The Reproductive Health Service Corps were created through AB 1918, authored by Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris and subsequently funded through Governor Newsom’s 2022 budget. The grant was awarded by the California Department of Health Care Access and Information. The bill was based on recommendations developed by the California Future of Abortion Council to respond to drastic changes in the abortion access landscape.
A website for prospective scholars will launch in spring 2024.
“The Reproductive Health Service Corps is a visionary approach to expand access to abortion training for all health professions and addresses a major bottleneck to people accessing reproductive health care. We look forward to working with the consortium partners to show the impact of this vital work," Linda Franck, PhD, RN, FAAN, professor and director of the ACTIONS program.