This unique educational opportunity offers medical students the opportunity to learn about abortion from family planning experts in a small group virtual environment using independent learning, interactive lectures and sessions, and self-paced hands-on training simulation.
The virtual ATI program primarily covers medical and surgical abortion in the first trimester, and includes a values clarification session, advocacy session and a provider panel. Faculty is recruited regionally to allow medical students to engage with current abortion providers who have familiarity and experience with the unique challenges of providing abortion care in their geographic area. Accepted students receive an MSFC training kit with supplies to practice MVA (manual vacuum aspiration) techniques.
Admission is application-based and highly competitive as space is limited. Only 15 medical students will be accepted per session. Applicants are encouraged to apply for the Virtual ATI session scheduled for the geographic region where their medical school is located. Due to COVID-19 shipping related constraints, only medical students currently residing in the United States are eligible to apply at this time. Priority will be given to first and second year medical students with very little or no access to abortion training on campus or offsite.
2022 Virtual ATI dates
Includes: Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, DC, Virginia, West Virginia
Includes: North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and Puerto Rico
Includes: Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas
Includes: Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Hawaii, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming
Why should you attend?
In 2021, 55 medical students representing 46 medical schools throughout the US attended MSFC’s Virtual Abortion Training Institutes. 92.5% of medical students who attended identified that they found the Virtual ATI to be very useful and found that they were more knowledgeable on first trimester medical and surgical abortion and products of conception than prior to attending the session. Among the reasons medical students found the Virtual ATI to be very useful were:
- The ability to practice and learn in a small group environment.
- The chance to speak openly and candidly with other pro-choice medical students in a safe space.
- The presenters were knowledgeable and the MVA hands-on simulation provided the ability to learn clinical skills with real equipment.
- Abortion providers were willing to be candid about their experiences and shared how different geographical regions change the provider’s experience.
Many medical students identified having a clearer sense of their own personal reasons for becoming an abortion provider and a better understanding of the pathway to abortion provision. Those who attended gained clinical knowledge and hands-on skills that they could now share with their peers.
Visit this page for more information, or email meetings@msfc.org if interested in applying.
