Reproductive health training program expands
RADIANT, fellowship for providing safe abortion care, is in its second year
A UIC Nursing-led fellowship that trains and mentors certified nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners to provide safe abortion care is expanding in its second year.
Led by associate professor Kylea Liese, PhD, CNM, the Reproductive Advocacy and Diversity in Advanced Nursing Training (RADIANT) Learning Collaborative was funded with a grant from the Illinois Department of Public Health in 2024 with a goal of increasing access to safe abortions from skilled providers.
In its first year, 32 clinicians completed the fellowship, which included both an online curriculum and in-person training. In addition, there were more than 100 participants who attended one of four one-day workshops on abortion topics. Three were offered in Chicago and one in Urbana.
In its second year, the program is partnering with Carafem, an international abortion provider with a clinic in Skokie. The partnership will allow fellows to get hands-on training in abortion care at a midwifery-led clinic.
In addition, the second year will expand the program to include emergency department providers.
“In rural areas, you have a maternity health care desert issue,” Liese says. “OB-GYN units are closing and reproductive health care falls to the emergency room, but most emergency room providers have inadequate training and supplies for managing things like miscarriage, birth and abortions.
With the help of two established organizations focused on emergency department healthcare – Access Bridge and FemInEM– the RADIANT ED fellowship will target providers from emergency departments that don’t have an OB unit on site. The program will also help providers to work with their facility’s administrators to make their emergency departments access points for medication abortions.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to allow states to restrict access to abortion, Illinois has become a destination for out-of-state abortion seekers. In 2023, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a law affirming that medical and procedural management of abortion are part of the legal scope of care for nurse practitioners and certified nurse-midwives in Illinois.