BERKELEY, Calif.--(COLLEGIATE PRESSWIRE)--Jan. 19, 2001--Pro-choice medical students who are part of Medical Students for Choice (MSFC) are teaming up with local organizations and coalitions across the country to celebrate the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade marked on January 22nd. Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme Court’s 1973 landmark decision, legalized abortion in the United States.
Medical students at some 100 medical schools across the United States work to increase teaching and training in all aspects of reproductive health, including abortion. These student activists are raising awareness about one of the greatest obstacles facing women seeking abortions today: finding a trained and willing doctor. In the U.S., 86% of counties do not have a single abortion provider.
“The promise of Roe - safe, legal, and accessible abortion care -- is not a reality for many American women,” explained MSFC President Alia Matthews, a medical student at the University of Pittsburgh, PA. “What good is the legal right to abortion if there is no one to perform the procedure?”
Abortion is one of the most common outpatient surgical procedures among U.S. women. Each year, more than a million women have abortions. Despite this medical need, doctors emerging from medical schools and residency programs are not being trained in this procedure. Only 12% of U.S. ob/gyn residency programs require routine training in first-trimester abortions. Most medical students and residents are trained in hospitals, where only 7% of all abortions are performed.
MSFC Co-Founder Jody Steinauer, MD, sees Roe as an opportunity to raise awareness about this lack of training. “Our students are working to ensure that abortion is a standard part of medical education and is taught as a public health issue and medical procedure, not a political controversy,” said Steinauer, a resident at the University of California-San Francisco. “Just as Roe provides every woman who faces an unwanted pregnancy with choices, all doctors must have the training they need to make their own choices about the kind of health care they will provide.”
Highlights of Local Roe v Wade Events
Following is a brief sampling of how MSFC student activists are marking the Roe anniversary:
* On January 19, members of the MSFC group at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY will hold the second in their three-Friday video series of pro-choice documentaries by Dorothy Fadiman. Her 1996 video The Fragile Promise of Choice: Abortion in the United States Today includes a segment on Medical Students for Choice.
During the week of January 22, Syracuse medical students will also launch a “green ribbon campaign” to celebrate Roe vs. Wade. Wearing the ribbons sends a message against violence targeting abortion providers and demonstrates support for safe, attainable, legal abortion.
* On January 20, members of the MSFC group at George Washington University Medical School will attend the Voter March and Protest in Washington, D.C.
* On January 22, members of the MSFC group at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis will join the University Choice Coalition to co-sponsor a panel. (The University Choice Coalition can be reached via 612/626-6919). Panelists include Mildred Hansen, MD; Rebecca Heltzer, Esq.; Reverend Nadean Bishop; and Professor Fusaki Ogata.
* On January 22, members of the MSFC group at Boston University will host a talk by abortion pioneer Kenneth Edelin, MD, Associate Dean for Students and Minority Affairs and Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology, on “Abortion Politics: Past, Present and Future.” (Dr. Edelin can be reached at 617/638-4433 or [email protected].)
* On January 22, members of the MSFC group at Texas Technical University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) School of Medicine in Lubbock will host Sarah Wheat, director of public relations at Texas Abortion Rights Action League, who will speak on “28 Years Later: An Advocacy and Political Update on Reproductive Choice in Texas.” (TARAL can be reached at 512/462-1661.)
* On January 22, members of the MSFC group at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD will show a pro-choice video, “Legal But Out of Reach,” followed by a discussion of the nationwide shortage of abortion providers, medical students’ clinical experiences, and the commitments practicing and future physicians share on this issue.
* On January 22, members of the MSFC group at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in Bronx, NY will co-host a panel, “Why I Provide Abortions,” with Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health. (PRCH can be reached at 212/765-2322.)
* On January 22, members of the MSFC group at Albany Medical College will host a panel discussion on religion and choice. Panelists from the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, Women of Reformed Judaism, and Catholics for Free Choice will speak about how they combine their religious beliefs and pro-choice stance. The medical students are also undertaking a letter-writing campaign to increase awareness about the shortage of abortion providers nationwide.
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Medical Students for Choice (MSFC) is a student-led, grassroots not-for-profit organization. MSFC was founded in 1993 by medical students concerned about the abortion provider shortage, the lack of abortion education, and escalating violence against abortion providers. Representing some 7,000 medical students and residents who are demanding a comprehensive medical education including abortion training, the organization works on a grassroots basis at medical schools and residency programs throughout North America, holds national and regional meetings, maintains a presence on the Internet, and publishes a quarterly newsletter. For more information, visit www.ms4c.org.
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