About the Abortion Training Nexus

The Abortion Training Nexus (ATN) is a nationwide initiative dedicated to ensuring that the next generation of reproductive health providers has access to comprehensive abortion training—no matter where they live or train.

In the wake of the Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade and triggered sweeping state-level abortion bans, many OB-GYN residency programs lost access to in-state abortion training. Without trained providers, patients lose access—not only to abortion care but to the full spectrum of reproductive healthcare. While much attention has been focused on protecting patient access, little has been done to preserve and expand abortion training. That’s where we come in.

Launched in January 2024, the ATN is led by the Kenneth J. Ryan Residency Training Program in partnership with Dr. Kristyn Brandi, an OB-GYN and lifelong advocate for reproductive justice. Together, we are building a national infrastructure to sustain abortion training through out-of-state partnerships, tools, and resources.

Why the Ryan Program?

Founded in 1999, the Ryan Program was created to help OB-GYN residency programs meet the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) mandate for routine abortion training. For more than two decades, we’ve worked directly with programs across the U.S. to integrate abortion and contraception care into residency curricula. All participating programs establish or expand abortion services in their teaching hospitals and often create new partnerships with local clinics to train residents.

Our mission is to ensure that future physicians are equipped to provide full-spectrum reproductive healthcare. We provide resources, technical expertise, and strategic support to OB-GYN departments to:

• Expand abortion and contraception training

• Strengthen care within teaching hospitals

• Foster training partnerships with community clinics

With over 20 years of experience and a network of 119 affiliated US-programs (34% of all ACGME-accredited programs), the Ryan Program is uniquely positioned to lead this effort.

Our Track Record

Since Dobbs, the Ryan Program has established 14 active out-of-state training partnerships between sending and receiving sites—and we are in the process of establishing 6 more. These efforts demonstrate both the feasibility of these arrangements and our capacity to lead this work. Yet, for the more than 60 programs that may still need out-of-state training for their residents, the primary barrier remains a lack of host sites ready and willing to partner. The Abortion Training Nexus is designed to close this gap.

What We Do

The ATN works to map the evolving training landscape, identify barriers and opportunities, and develop tools that connect clinical training sites, educators, and trainees. Our three-step process ensures that our work is driven by the realities on the ground:

1. Engage with stakeholders – including abortion providers, residency programs, independent clinics, Planned Parenthood affiliates, and medical trainees—to understand challenges and needs.

2. Develop evidence-based tools using implementation science to support training programs and clinical sites in facilitating out-of-state training.

3. Implement and evaluate solutions to strengthen and sustain abortion training networks.

At the Abortion Training Nexus, we believe that protecting abortion access means protecting abortion training—and we’re here to make that happen.

Join Us

If you are a trainee, educator, clinic, or organization involved in abortion care and training, we want to hear from you. Together, we can build a stronger, more connected network to ensure that abortion training—and abortion care—remains accessible for generations to come.