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The Access List

The Access List, maintained by RHEDI, is a private discussion group for family medicine clinicians, educators,  learners, and others, who provide abortion/sexual and reproductive health (SRH) care, are involved in abortion/SRH training, or support this care or training within the family medicine/primary care community.

Membership in the Access List is subject to approval via an application process. To submit an application, please click on the link below.

Access List Application

Access List Application

Community Guidelines and Agreements

Access List Community Guidelines and Agreements

We value the fact that Access List members are a heterogeneous group, representing different geographical regions, lived experiences, and political ideologies. While the Access List remains a private forum, open only to screened members, we acknowledge that email listservs are inherently vulnerable to public exposure and legal discovery. It is in this context that we recognize the need to more clearly define, and attest to, a set of commonly agreed upon community guidelines that seek to promote a culture of physical, legal, and psychological safety for ALL our members, while avoiding unnecessary censorship.

Please review the following community guidelines. Your attestation confirms your agreement to uphold these expectations as requisite to ongoing participation in our shared community.

As a member of the Access List community, I AGREE TO:

  1. Value the contributions of all Access List members, regardless of their positions of Power (formal) or power (informal) within RHEDI, any academic or community‐based organization, or the SRH community in general.
  2. Cultivate a respectful environment where members feel that they can learn, share, grow, and contribute while being respected, dignified and safe. I will bear personal responsibility to make this space safer by disengaging from discriminatory and abusive practices and/or challenging them when I witness them.
  3. Be mindful of the way in which I engage and reflect on the role I play in positively or negatively affecting other members, recognizing that discussions of dehumanization, dispossession, colonization, exclusion and marginalization affect people differently and inequitably.
  4. Acknowledge that everything stated on this List could appear in court or public forums and thus put fellow List members in legal jeopardy. Unless I send an off‐list message, I understand my messages go to all members’ inboxes and are discoverable. Thus I will avoid referencing specific actions that may be illegal in some states, or specific patients, clinicians, activists, or groups in a way that could directly connect them to criminalized activities and instead invite participants to move such conversations to a more secure encrypted platform, such as Signal. (We encourage you to review the Activist Handbook resource, as well as Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Surveillance Self‐Defense Guide for guidance on internet security).
  5. Abide by the Community Guideline Violations Procedures as described below.

 

As a member of the Access List community, I AGREE TO NOT:

  1. Attack others with whom I disagree as these discussions are meant to facilitate the exchange of ideas and information. In addition, I will be mindful of the space I take up. If I have posted on several occasions, I will reflect on whether I am giving space for others to participate.
  2. Forward list postings to non‐subscribers. I will ensure that any information I re‐use is free of names, phone numbers, emails, websites, institutional affiliations and other identifying information.
  3. Use language that is abusive, belittling, intimidating, harassing or derogatory toward any individual or group either internal or external to the Access List. Any posts that traffic in racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, able‐ist or religiously‐targeted aggression or stereotypes will not be tolerated and will be handled in a manner as delineated in the Community Guideline Violations Procedures (see below).
Eligibility and Process to Join

Access List Eligibility and Process to Join

The target audience includes family medicine clinicians, educators, learners, and others who provide abortion/SRH care, are involved in abortion/SRH training, or support this care or training within the family medicine/primary care community.

This includes:

  1. Clinicians who are providing abortion care (medication and/or procedural)
  2. Clinicians who are providing SRH care but not abortion care
  3. A variety of credentials and disciplines: physicians (MD/DO), nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and certified nurse midwives
  4. Clinicians in family medicine, but may also include other specialties (internal medicine, pediatrics, OB/GYN, etc.) if they are providing care in primary care settings or training at a high volume abortion care site
  5. Family medicine residents may be members. Medical students are generally not accepted to the Access List unless they are in their 3rd or 4th year, are certain they are going into family medicine, and want to provide abortion/SRH care
  6. Non-clinicians may be members, including researchers, advocates, administrators, social scientists, policy experts, and lawyers if involved in work that supports care or training within the family medicine community
  7. If you are currently a member of the Access List but do not fall within any of the categories listed above, please reach out to the Access List Manager to determine whether you should remain on the List or not.

Access List Outreach: Members are primarily added through member referrals, conference sign-up sheets, contacting RHEDI directly via website, and annual reminders to RHEDI programs. Access List members are encouraged to make referrals, and they should be made with the Access List guidelines and eligibility requirements in mind. Membership will be reminded regularly on how to make referrals in quarterly messages that will contain announcements and other reminders.

Application Requirements: To be considered for membership, all applicants must complete the membership application form above.

Referral and Vetting Process:

  1. All referrals should be sent to info@rhedi.org. Please include information about the person being referred, i.e. current position (medical student, resident, faculty), institutional affiliation, and your relationship to the applicant.
  2. If not referred directly (e.g., applying via sign-in sheet or RHEDI’s website), the applicant’s reference will be contacted by the List Manager to confirm they can vouch for the person. For applicants without references, the List Manager will conduct additional screening and may reach out to the applicant for a brief call. The List Manager will then consult with RHEDI staff as needed.
  3. Subscribers who have successfully completed the application process will be sent a welcome letter.
Mission and Values

Access List ‒ Mission and Values Statement

The Access List is a private discussion group for family medicine clinicians, educators, learners, and others who provide abortion/sexual and reproductive health (SRH) care, are involved in abortion/SRH training, or support this care or training within the family medicine/primary care community.  Discussion topics can include clinical, educational and administrative issues in offering abortion (medication and procedural) and SRH care within family medicine.  The List’s goal is to educate and share practical information that broadens our understanding about training and delivery of abortion and SRH services within family medicine.

The Access List aims to center these values, intentions, and actions:

  • A welcoming environment for List members to learn from and support each other
  • A space that elevates family medicine and primary care perspectives in SRH
  • The SRH needs of historically excluded people, including Black and Indigenous people and People of Color, LGBTQIA+ people, and people with disabilities
  • A commitment to anti-racism in patient care, education and advocacy
  • Expansion of abortion access and rights
  • A commitment to uplift the voices of clinicians who are historically and currently excluded or marginalized
  • Honesty, curiosity, and life-long learning


The Access List does not support viewpoints that are anti-abortion, racist or discriminatory.

Community Guidelines Violations Procedure

Access List ‒ Community Guidelines Violations Procedures

Purpose: To define a list of possible action steps that may be implemented in the event of an Access List member’s violation of Access List Community Guidelines. These action steps are meant to ensure the psychological and physical safety and wellbeing of the whole group. We acknowledge that (un)learning and growth are ongoing and infinite processes.

Process for identification of a community violation:

  • Anonymous google form to allow any List member to submit a report regarding a potential community guideline violation
  • Link to google form will be included in quarterly reminder update to members and will be easily found on RHEDI’s Access List webpage
  • Google form will ask reporter to indicate which community guideline was violated


Consequences of a community guideline violation:

  • RHEDI staff will promptly review reports of violations and will determine the appropriate response, in consultation with the Access List Community Advisory Board and RHEDI’s Advisory Council as needed.
  • Depending on the violation, responses may include:
    • Temporary or permanent restriction on being able to post (view-only)
    • Recommendations for training/education
    • Temporary or permanent removal from the List
    • Establishment of restorative spaces

Violations will generate both a public boilerplate response to the List and a resharing of the community guidelines, and a private response to the offender.

With the exception of those that blatantly violate community agreements, conversations that are productive and allow for learning and growth will not be interrupted. We believe that missteps can present important opportunities to change and grow together. In contrast, conversations that cause harm to our community will either become moderated (to specifically allow space for members of the community being harmed to respond), or will be completely closed to new replies if necessary. RHEDI will monitor these situations closely and will manage them on a case by case basis. 

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