At Forward Midwifery, we provide safe and inclusive care while always valuing your privacy. We strive to provide equitable services and fight to dismantle the many barriers to accessing health care. We recognize that individuals know what they need and what is best for them in each unique situation. We are here to help empower our patients and assist them in accessing the care they need. We’re here for you, and we have your back!
Our Mission
Our Team
We've always been driven by a passion for helping others. We launched this virtual practice in 2021 to provide inclusive, accessible & affordable sexual & reproductive health care. At first, we focused on supporting those seeking to end early pregnancies & gender affirming care. Since then, we've expanded our service offering past medication abortion to include preventive care, postpartum depression, and more.
We strongly believe abortion and gender affirming care, in addition to the services we've added are normal aspects of health care & patients should have easy, private, and safe access to them.
Christie Pitney (they/she)
MS, RN, WHNP-BC, CNM
Christie (they/she) is a queer and genderqueer, certified nurse-midwife and nurse practitioner. They are the founder for Forward Midwifery, co-founder of the Abortion Freedom Fund, and clinician advisor for Plan C. They also volunteer on the board of Pro-Choice Maryland and with the Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline. Christie started Forward Midwifery when she was living in California and saw that folks in her area could not access in-person abortions due to multiple barriers and wanted to find ways to help increase access. They believe that abortion should be accessible to all people in all options - community based care, telehealth, and self-managed! Christie tries to ensure that their work is rooted in the tenets of Reproductive Justice and is also passionate about queer and trans healthcare, prison abolition, and food justice.
Ritha Mera (she/her)
MD, IPMP
Ritha is currently the clinical assistant for Forward Midwifery, but is also Christie’s future practice partner and abortion doctor extraordinaire. She is a proud first-generation immigrant, navigating and experiencing life in her community shaped and fueled her passion for reproductive health and education. She firmly believes education and accessible health care are the most powerful tools against disease. She is fascinated by abortion care in family medicine and research in reproductive health because they allow for primary prevention and education in reproductive health. Research in reproductive health and abortion care are the cornerstone of her research, as it seeks to normalize and integrate abortion care into regular medical care.
Join us!
We're passionate about changing the public discourse surrounding reproductive health and rights. Our social channels are filled with content to help you become an ally in the fight for a more equitable world.
If you're looking to join a protest, wanting to learn more about reproductive health equity, or wanting tips on how to talk about these issues with your loved ones, we've got you covered.
Join our social media community to stay up-to-date on the latest news, resources for spreading awareness and opportunities to help us further our mission. A simple like, follow, or share can go a long way! 💕
We're a really small team with big plans to make a positive impact in the virtual reproductive healthcare space. We focus all our resources on care provision, which enables us to serve as many patients as possible. This means that we don't have a marketing budget & instead we rely on our community to help spread the word about our services. We're grateful for our supporters who have contributed to our effort and would love for you to get involved, too!
The best way to help is to follow us on social media and share our donations page. Don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any feedback or questions! 💖