Midwest Access Project is set to host its annual fundraiser Sept. 25, promoting the nonprofit’s services and celebrating 18 years of improving access to reproductive health care.
The nonprofit, founded in 2006, is dedicated to providing equitable reproductive health care services and bridging gaps in rural areas and with minority communities. Launched by a group of physicians looking to create more access for education for medical residents, Midwest Access Project has provided nearly 4,000 individual clinical training days to hundreds of healthcare workers nationwide.
By promoting accessible care, the nonprofit also wants to create a safer space for patients of LGBTQ+ backgrounds seeking gender affirming care.
“Accessible care means I can go somewhere and feel safe, I’m not going to be misgendered. I’m not going to be mislabeled, I’m not going to be treated differently,” MAP Director of Strategic Communications Dominique Mackey said. “So we’re really trying to pour into and target providers that are going to show up in these communities and are actually a part of these communities.”
In a post-Dobbs America where abortion restrictions and outright bans have been passed across the nation, while bills to protect IVF and other reproductive services have stalled in congress, Mackey said Midwest Access Project’s services are more pertinent now than ever. Twenty-nine percent of family medicine residences and programs are based in states where abortion is restricted or banned, creating a large disparity for young medical professionals who lack the proper education on reproductive health.
Mackey pointed to Amber Nicole Thurman, a Georgia woman who died from a post-abortion infection—having received abortion pills in neighboring North Carolina—after a delay in healthcare given the state’s abortion ban making it illegal for doctors to perform necessary procedures.
The nonprofit is working to prevent other avoidable deaths, seeking to further depoliticize reproductive healthcare in an effort to keep patients safe and providers equipped. Care goes beyond medical residents, Mackey added, with MAP’s work also targeting midwives and others working on the frontlines of reproductive care.
The majority of professionals the nonprofit trains go onto work in the Midwest. Midwest Access Project has more than 20 training sites in the state of Illinois, alongside newer sites in other areas of the country.
As abortion restrictions are passed across the country, telehealth care and medication abortion is a growing resource for patients in areas where reproductive healthcare is scarce or altogether impossible to find, according to the nonprofit.
Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton will deliver remarks during the event, titled “Stepping Boldly into the Future,” alongside awardees Dr. Grace Shih, an associate professor at the University of Washington, Dr. Jessika Ralph of Whole Woman’s Health of Minnesota, and Dr. Michelle Brown, a medical director for the OB Triage Unit at Northwestern Medicine.
The ceremony will also honor Jeanine Valrie Logan of Chicago South Side Birth Center with the Executive Director’s Distinction Award in acknowledgement of her service to “fostering the creation of more equitable and inclusive services,” according to a press release.
While the event is a chance to celebrate the nonprofit’s accomplishments thus far, their work is far from over.
“We are all looking forward to the opportunity to celebrate the folks that are really doing the good work,” Mackey said. “But we need to continue on, because everyone doesn’t have access yet.”
“It goes beyond just the regular office visit, you know. How can I help you tomorrow, not just today?” she continued.
Tickets for the event are open to the public, and tickets will be sold at the door as well.