On Wednesday, November 13, 2024, MSFC Student Organizing held an International Student Leader virtual event. It was an opportunity for student leaders from around the world to share their experiences, ask for advice, and provide context about what it is like to pursue and advocate for abortion training in their region. They reflected upon how MSFC has informed their work.
MSFC operates globally and has a robust network of current and future abortion providers, which allows us to come together to illuminate what providing that care looks like, what barriers exist to doing so, and how to best advocate for healthcare access and reproductive justice around the world.
During the event, we heard from several medical students leading chapters outside of the United States. We wanted to share some of their insights here for those unable to attend.
A student leader from Makerere University in Uganda spoke about what access to abortion care looks like in Uganda:
“Access to comprehensive abortion care is highly restrictive in Uganda and other low socio-economic countries due to unfavorable legal frameworks, cultural and religious landscape. Because of this, comprehensive abortion care and post-abortion care are not exclusively taught in medical schools. Medical Students for Choice has given us students from such abortion restrictive environments knowledge and skills to provide compassionate and non-judgmental care to individuals seeking reproductive health services; and skills to advocate for policy changes that prioritize the health, dignity and rights of all individuals. This has been through seminars, regional conferences, webinars, projects and reproductive health externship programs. I can now comfortably extend comprehensive abortion care, post-abortion care, and family planning services to girls and women needing them.”
This student also opened up about their experience attending the externship program hosted by the Dynamic Doctors Uganda program:
“Dynamic Doctors Uganda hosts medical students from across Africa with funding from Medical Students for Choice for hands-on training at health facilities in rural areas. This externship provides students with invaluable hands-on experience and an in-depth understanding of clinical care and counselling in sexual reproductive health and gives them a chance to refine their clinical skills from rural settings where they will practice from when they qualify in areas of reproductive health in comprehensive abortion care, post-abortion care and contraception. I had the pleasure to be an extern for this wonderful Externship Program at Jinja Regional Referral Hospital in July 2023. This MSFC/DDU RHE Externship Program was such an invaluable experience to understand the health disparities in rural settings from a global health perspective while delving into something that I am extremely passionate about sexual reproductive health and rights.”
At the event, we also heard from a student leader at the University of Duisburg-Essen who presented an overview of their work and the landscape of providing abortion care in Germany. This student shared that the chapter has hosted pub quizzes, lectures, and hands-on workshops. They have organized demonstrations, attended rallies, and coordinated with Doctors for Choice, ProFamilia in Action, Bündnis für sexuelle, and Selbstbestimmung. From these experiences, the chapter reports having developed networking and leadership skills and engaged in interdisciplinary exchange with other medical students and with a midwife community. They have grown in their ability to communicate with the press and give interviews. They have also organized effective campaigns to decriminalize abortion and formed a reliable network of like-minded people from a range of different fields and career stages.
The chapter also shared that their engagement with MSFC has increased political involvement and advocacy among medical students and has inspired many of them to pursue OB-GYN as a career path.
One of the University of Duisburg-Essen chapter members is researching influencing factors on abortion provision in Germany and credits MSFC’s network in facilitating the research required for her doctoral thesis.
Photos provided by the University of Duisburg-Essen
A student leader attending Dalhousie University in Canada provided additional context about their advocacy through MSFC. They focus on teaching students about topics they’ll encounter in any field of practice and getting students more knowledgeable and comfortable in providing a variety of services. They brought in a local abortion provider to share about prescribing abortion medication. This provider discussed indications, required testing, follow-up care, side effects and complications, and counselling patients. They also hosted a local pharmacist to discuss dispensing medication abortion pills, and the kinds of questions patients ask in those interactions. The event concluded with a hands-on session using MSFC MVA kits. The chapter also hosted a urologist to discuss vasectomies as a reproductive healthcare option, a contraceptive information session, and an IUD insertion workshop. They see their role as supporting future abortion care providers and advocating for reproductive justice in New Brunswick.
Finally, we heard from a student leader based in Cotonou, Benin, at the Faculty of Health Sciences, who described chapter activities and an overview of healthcare access in West Africa.
All of the student leaders expressed that MSFC has allowed them to organize, advocate for, and train to provide abortion care in their respective regions. Despite varying social, political, and economic barriers to providing reproductive healthcare globally, these student leaders related to one another through their commitment to fighting for reproductive justice and learning to provide the best care possible in their community.
MSFC HQ has a regular virtual events series and hosts events like these, which help us connect and learn about various topics related to abortion, family planning, and reproductive justice. We hope to see you at the next one!
