When is the last time you felt hopeful? For many of us, the vaccine rollout has provided great comfort and helped us feel optimistic. Others have been encouraged by news that our favorite small businesses plan to reopen or by connecting with friends and family through creative, socially distant events.
I find hope from the opportunity to lead Medical Students for Choice (MSFC) as Executive Director, and I am inspired every day as I serve alongside a dedicated community of student leaders and partners organizing to create tomorrow’s abortion providers and pro-choice physicians. Our work isn’t possible without the support of individuals like you; please consider donating today.
My experience in the reproductive health, rights, and justice movement over the last twelve years has instilled in me a tremendous appreciation for the power that lies in community. At MSFC, we know that we cannot do this work alone. With your donation and support, we can provide medical students with the training and resources they need to achieve our mission.
MSFC seeks to center the most marginalized in our communities, and we are working to incorporate anti-racism training into our work to hold the needs of people of color front and center. We’ve increased outreach to reproductive justice leaders and organizations to create fluid pathways for collaboration. We are prioritizing expanding who reproductive healthcare looks to serve, centering equity, and reducing the stigma that trans folks often face when trying to access care.
Our community has grown to 235 chapters in 28 countries, broadening our mission’s reach worldwide. Medical students have led our organization’s work since its inception and will continue to inform how we move forward. This mobile force of dedicated student leaders makes our work to create tomorrow’s abortion providers and pro-choice physicians possible.
We continue to expand access to training for student leaders and hope to offer a hybrid of in-person and online training in 2021. While increasing access to training, we remain cognizant of the threats to legal access to abortion that loom. We are actively exploring new opportunities for student leaders to add their voice to defending access to the full range of reproductive healthcare, including abortion care.
I am hopeful about the future because I believe in the power of our advocacy and activism. There’s no stopping us, but to keep the momentum going, we need your support. Donate now to help us dream bigger, increase access to abortion, and connect the dedicated community of pro-choice physicians, abortion providers, and student leaders worldwide.
In solidarity,
Pamela Merritt
Executive Director, Medical Students for Choice
