Reproductive Health Access Project

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Reproductive Health Access Project (RHAP) is a nonprofit founded in 2005 to bring abortion, contraception, and miscarriage care into routine medical practice. Based in Manhattan, NY, RHAP works across the United States and runs a network of more than 3,500 primary clinicians organized into local groups called clusters to help primary care providers offer reproductive health services. The organization also offers fellowships and hands-on clinical training.

RHAP is well known for papaya workshops, where a papaya model is used with a manual vacuum aspirator to demonstrate abortion tools. It received attention on NPR after leading a petition to keep contraception and abortion in the core family medicine training curriculum. RHAP’s materials on contraception, abortion, and miscarriage have been translated into several languages, and the organization publishes resources in journals such as Contraception and American Family Physician.

Founding and leadership: RHAP was founded in 2005 by Linda Prine, Lisa Maldonado, and Ruth Lesnewski. Linda Prine is a family physician at Mount Sinai, board-certified in family medicine, and RHAP’s medical director. Lisa Maldonado is the executive director and has worked on family planning programs in Latin America, Africa, and New York City. Ruth Lesnewski is an attending physician at Mount Sinai Downtown Family Medicine Residency and RHAP’s educational director.