NATIONAL ABORTION FEDERATION

The National Abortion Federation works to ensure that abortion is safe, legal, and accessible. We aim to accomplish that 1) abortion care remains among the safest and highest quality medical procedures; 2) abortion providers expand their clinical skills and learn about new medical techniques and the latest research; 3) abortion providers and facilities remain secure from anti-abortion threats, criminal activities, and violence; and patients have safe access to clinics; 4) abortion remains legal, and abortion access is protected and expanded through pro-choice policies at the federal and state levels; and 5) patients have access to safe, high-quality abortion care and the resources they need to make informed choices about their pregnancies.

In order to ensure that abortion is safe, NAF sets the standards for quality abortion care with our evidence-based Clinical Policy Guidelines for Abortion Care (CPGs), which are revised and re-issued annually. We work to ensure that NAF members are in compliance with the CPGs, which in turn helps patients receive high-quality care. We also offer accredited continuing medical education and training in diverse aspects of abortion care for health care professionals.

In order to ensure that abortion is accessible and abortion providers and patients are safe, NAF implements a comprehensive security program. We provide 24/7 security assistance and support for abortion providers to help ensure the safety of their staff, patients, and clinics. We also work with law enforcement officials to help improve their response to incidents of anti-abortion criminal activities and violence so that clinics can remain open to care for patients.

In order to help ensure that abortion is legal and accessible, NAF helps protect, defend, and advance pro-choice policies at the federal and state levels. We bring forward the voices of abortion providers and patients during public policy debates. We share stories of patients who chose abortion care, as well as provide expert medical testimony about standards of care. We also share the expected impact of policies with the media and continue to be a media resource on abortion-related issues.

To help ensure that abortion care is accessible, NAF, through our supporting organization the National Abortion Hotline, operates a national, toll-free Hotline that provides accurate information about abortion, options counseling, referrals to providers of high-quality care, case management support for women with special needs, and limited financial assistance for low-income patients.

As the professional association of abortion providers, NAF represents the health care professionals who make reproductive choice a reality. Since 1996, NAF has been setting the standards for safe, high-quality abortion care with our evidence-based Clinical Policy Guidelines for Abortion Care, which we update and re-issue annually. Our staff and Board members include leading medical experts in abortion care who frequently serve as faculty for our accredited continuing medical educational sessions and trainings.

To address the extreme acts of violence and criminal activities targeting abortion providers, our security staff is available to members 24/7 and regularly provides security assessments and trainings, and on-site emergency support. NAF also successfully advocated for the creation of the Department of Justice's National Task Force on Violence Against Health Care Providers in 1998. Our robust security team continues to work with law enforcement officials at the federal, state, and local levels to help ensure that they properly respond to anti-abortion threats, intimidation, violence, and criminal activities targeting providers, patients, and facilities. Additionally, NAF has been compiling statistics on incidents of violence and disruption against abortion providers since 1977. Our comprehensive database is an invaluable resource that enables us to detect changes in the patterns and trends in anti-abortion activities, which we share with members, law enforcement, public officials, and the media.

As the organization that represents abortion providers, NAF plays a unique role in challenging the anti-choice agenda by bringing forward the perspectives of abortion providers and patients during public debates. We provide expert medical testimony about abortion and standards of care, as well as the stories of the real-life impact of anti-choice policies on the women who have chosen abortion care.

NAF began operating our Hotline in 1979 in order to provide direct assistance to women in overcoming obstacles to obtaining abortion care. The National Abortion Hotline, now operated by our supporting organization, the NAF Hotline Fund, helps thousands of patients each year obtain the abortion care they need.

Since NAF's founding in 1977, we have worked to ensure that abortion is safe, legal, and accessible. Some of our accomplishments include:

• Convening NAF's first Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado in 1977, which provided abortion-specific continuing medical education;
• Publishing the first edition of the NAF Standards for Quality Abortion Care in 1978;
• Establishing NAF's national, toll-free, abortion hotline in 1979;
• Obtaining accreditation by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to deliver continuing medical education in abortion care in 1981;
• Publishing the country's first Clinical Policy Guidelines in 1996, which set the standards for quality abortion care;
• Bringing forward the women who chose abortion care to share their personal stories with President Clinton in 1996, which resulted in President Clinton vetoing the federal abortion ban in 1996 and 1997;
• Advocating successfully for the creation of the Department of Justice's National Task Force on Violence Against Health Care Providers in 1998;
• Launching fully-accredited, national, continuing medical education programs and materials on the safe and effective use of mifepristone (RU-486) for early medical abortion in 2000;
• Conducting a national public service magazine ad campaign to let women know that mifepristone was safe and available in 2001. The ads ran in 33 issues of 14 magazines, reaching over 70% of women between the ages of 18 and 49.
• Obtaining a permanent injunction against enforcement of the federal abortion ban when NAF won our lawsuit, National Abortion Federation et.al v Ashcroft in 2004;
• Increasing support for low-income women with the expansion of our Hotline in 2008;
• Developing a new edition in 2009 of our textbook, Management of Unintended and Abnormal Pregnancy: Comprehensive Abortion Care, which serves as the standard, evidence-based reference text in abortion care;
• Co-leading a campaign in 2012 that lifted the ban on military insurance coverage restrictions, thereby expanding abortion access for service women; and
• Expanding our on-site technical assistance and training in diverse aspects of abortion care for abortion providers in 2016.

Despite our accomplishments, abortion providers continue to face a challenging political climate. Anti-choice policymakers at both the federal and state levels continue to enact politically motivated and medically unnecessary legislation and regulations designed to restrict access to abortion care. Furthermore, anti-abortion extremists continue to disrupt, intimidate, and threaten abortion providers, patients, and facilities. NAF will continue to work with our members and coalition partners to promote pro-choice policies that protect abortion access. We will also continue our work to help keep abortion providers, patients, and facilities safe from anti-abortion violence and criminal activities.