As an internationally known non-profit with a successful track record for change, Medical Students for Choice® (MSFC) stands up in the face of violent opposition. They work to destigmatize abortion provision among medical students and residents, and to persuade medical schools and residency programs to include abortion as a part of the reproductive health services curriculum.
Today one of the greatest obstacles to safe and legal abortion around the world is the absence of trained providers. Medical schools are simply not addressing the topic; most physicians graduate with little more than circumstantial knowledge of abortion. As medical students and residents, they work to make reproductive health care, including abortion, a part of standard medical education and residency training.
More specifically, these are their strategic goals:
Physicians have power, status, and prestige in nearly every culture, and MSFC seeks to leverage that power in ways that promote their vision of reproductive health, justice, and rights around the world.
MSFC’s structure empowers student voices and ensures that medical students are the key decision-makers at every level of the organization. The organization’s success depends on the active, driven leadership of medical students on campus and in the community.
Their structure is designed to ensure that all of their stakeholders are informed and engaged with each other. The Board of Directors is always comprised of a majority of medical student activists to ensure that students are the decision-makers of the organization. The Board creates a broad strategic vision for the organization.
The grassroots, their students on medical school campuses throughout the world, are their on-the-ground activists. Led by their Student Leaders, they provide the education and momentum for change at the local level. They move the organization forward and help achieve MSFC’s strategic vision.
The MSFC staff support the student leadership by implementing programming, managing resources, and providing expertise. Experienced grassroots activists work as staff extenders to further the reach of MSFC HQ to better support their student chapters. The staff routinely collect data from MSFC chapters to gauge MSFC’s health and learn about new challenges. This data is then presented to the Board of Directors who uses this information to ensure the strategic vision is being carried out and is still appropriate for the changing grassroots environment.
