Late 1970’s

Susan Yanow meets Marlene Gerber Fried through the Massachusetts Childbearing Rights Alliance, founded by Fried and a member organization of R2N2 . She heard of the organization’s meeting through an advertisement in an Allston laundromat.

Boston R2N2 works in collaboration with a number of reproductive rights groups to hold forums and direct action events. Boston R2N2 sponsors memorials for the Hyde amendment’s first victim, Rosie Jimenezs and Roe v. Wade events, all working within a social justice framework. Yanow and Fried work with R2N2, which later developd the Abortion Access Project (AAP).

1992

A series of meetings are held as a coalition effort to form an activist version of the legislatively Massachusetts Coalition for Choice (CFC) which was legislative focused. These meetings develop three outreach goals: hospital access, public awareness, and advanced practice clinicians. These issues are to be tackled through the Abortion Access Project.

Early meetings of group are held at Boston City Hall, at the height of Operation Rescue’s activities. The group secures their first grant from Resist/Haymarket

1993

First kickoff event at Faneuil Hall for the Abortion Access Project is held on January 21, 1993.

First independent AAP newsletter is mail, though access articles continue to be published in R2N2 newsletter.

AAP hold their first hospital picket at Mass General, Malden Hospital and a hospital in Stoneham which no longer exists.

AAP begins to survey hospitals in order to assess whether they provided abortion services or not.

1994

The first Massachusetts Directory of Abortion Services is printed,
to be produced annually until 2006.

The first Statewide Networking Conference for the
Abortion Access Project is held in Worcester, Massachusetts

December 30, 1994: Abortion clinic shootings in Boston,
marking a sobering time in the state of Massachusetts.

1995

AAP is still a project under Boston R2N2, but held a meeting at the Woman’s Center to devise their strategic plan in order to create structure.

AAP hires its first paid staff member
to work 10 hours a week.

Three public awareness campaigns are launched in the Massachusetts transit system, the first through R2N2, the second a collaboration of R2N2 and AAP, and the third through AAP. These ads receive national press.

First Abortion Access Action Month,
a campaign continues until 2005.

The organizing guide on how to change hospital policies is published. In the same year, Mount Auburn hospital changes their policies to increase access for women. Four hospitals change their policies to reflect better access for women in the first year of the hospital project.

1996

Boston Reproductive Rights Network gets
its own 501 c3 on April 8, 1996.

AAP, New York NARAL, and the Chicago Abortion Fund create the Hospital Access Collaborative (HAC) and they convened a meeting with 5 NARAL chapters (including Wyoming and South Dakota). With grant funding from the Ms. Foundation, the project writes an organizing guide and holds three meetings in
San Francisco, St. Louis and Boston. The Hospital Access
Collaborative drives the national expansion of AAP.

The Abortion Training and Access Initiative (ATAI), a joint project of AAP and University of Massachusetts (UMass) Medical Center received funding. Dr. Maureen Paul, a faculty at UMass and an AAP founder, spearheads the project, setting up trainings. The goals of the initiative were to integrate curricula into medical school and create training for residents at UMass. It also included a nursing component.

National Abortion Federation (NAF) holds a symposium on the potential role of APCs in providing abortions in which AAP participates. AAP collaborates with NAF to launch Nurse Practitioners/Nurse Midwives/Physician Assistants for Choice (eventually becoming Clinicians for Choice).

AAP launches a statewide billboard campaign in Massachusetts.

1997

AAP hires its first full time staff member.

AAP involved with work that changed
the free care policy at Brigham and Women’s Hospital which was looking to decrease the free care pool for abortion patients.

AAP starts raising awareness and organizing around how the approval of RU486 (Mifeprex) could expand access for women. Because of conservative political pressure, Mifeprex was not approved for use in the United States until 2000.

A Curricula Resource Guide for Nurse Educators
is developed and distributed.

1998

AAP expands its legal research on the potential role of
advanced practice clincians (APCs) to New England states.

AAP creates
the New England Midlevel Training Consortium (NEMTC).

First medication abortion training in Massachusetts is held in
collaboration with Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. A surgical training for APCs is done in Vermont at the Vermont Women’s Health Center.

Nursing Students for Choice is launched.

AAP’s program work at this time includes starting to organize an annual meeting of regional Medical Students for Choice.

1999

AAP published the first Hospital Access Study which provided
an assessment of the state of access of abortion services
at every hospital in the state. This report receives press.

First NEMTC meeting is held in Portsmouth, New Hampshire,
providing the opportunity to develop relationships and a chance to launch the legal research into APC work. Vermont is recognized as the model, with APCs there successfully providing aspiration abortions for more than 20 years.

2000

FDA approves mifepristone, a drug used for medication abortion.

AAP publishes the CD-ROM resource
“Caring for the Woman with an Unintended Pregnancy”,
a precursor to the ROE Consortium.

2001

AAP gets its own 501(c)(3) on April 6, 2001.

The New England Midlevel Training Consortium is renamed
the New Abortion Provider Training Initiative (NAPTI)
in recognition of its expansion beyond New England.

2002

The Reproductive Options Education Consortium for Nursing (ROE Consortium) is launched.
The ROE Advisory Committee is also formed.

2003

The APC Working Group is formed, including AAP, AMerican Civil Liberties Union, American Reproductive Health Professionals, Clinicians for Choice, Ipas, National Abortion Federation, Planned Parenthood Federation of American, and other professional APC groups.
The second Hospital Access Study is published.

2004

Melanie Zurek is joins AAP as Executive Director.
Susan Yanow focuses on AAP’s programmatic work as the Director of Training Initiatives.

2005

AAP works on a Boston study examining self-induced abortion in the local area.

AAP convenes a panel for health care providers, social workers, and professionals who work with young women to discuss the Teen Endangerment Act in Boston.

AAP collaborates with New York State Nurses Association to pass a resolution that recognizes the role of nurses in abortion care.

2006

The Self-Induced Abortion Working Group is formed.

At this point, APC’s are providing abortions in 15 states, as compared to 2 states in 1978.

AAP engages engages its staff, Board Director, field consultants, and an interdisciplinary team of partners from the reproductive rights and funding communities in a comprehensive strategic assessment and planning process to respond to these trends, redeveloping a mission and set of goals that would guide the work of the organization for the coming 10-15 years.

2007

AAP’s new strategic framework is put into action.