Medical Students for Choice: Empowering Future Physicians in Reproductive Healthcare

Medical Students for Choice (MSFC) is an internationally recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that future physicians are adequately trained in abortion care and reproductive health. Founded in 1993 by Jody Steinauer, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN) at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), MSFC addresses a critical gap in medical education by advocating for the inclusion of comprehensive abortion training in medical school curricula. With a network of over 10,000 medical students and residents worldwide, MSFC operates through chapters at medical schools and residency programs, focusing on advocacy for reproductive health care policies.

Mission and Goals

MSFC's core mission is to promote reproductive rights and ensure access to abortion care by empowering medical students with the knowledge and skills necessary to provide comprehensive reproductive healthcare. The organization believes that every medical student, regardless of their chosen specialty, will encounter patients who require guidance and care related to pregnancy decisions. Therefore, it is essential for these students to be well-educated about all available options, including abortion.

The goals of MSFC include:

Advocating for the integration of abortion training into medical school curricula: MSFC organizes chapter members to push for the formal inclusion of abortion training in medical school curricula.
Providing funding and resources for clinical experience: MSFC offers funding opportunities to medical students and residents to receive observational opportunities in clinics and, for students in their later years, training in abortion and contraceptive counseling.
Supporting students in abortion-hostile states: MSFC encourages medical students attending schools in states with restrictive abortion laws to apply for the Abortion Training Institute (ATI) program.
Promoting reproductive health awareness: MSFC collaborates with medical students from various colleges to organize events that promote comprehensive medical education and raise reproductive health awareness among students and the general public.

The Importance of Abortion Training in Medical Education

Abortion, reproductive justice, and family planning education should be standard in every medical school curriculum. Trained abortion providers are essential to promoting reproductive rights, as they allow women to safely and legally access abortion if they choose. By ensuring that medical students receive comprehensive training in abortion care, MSFC aims to:

Improve patient care: Well-educated medical professionals are better equipped to provide the best possible care to patients facing pregnancy decisions.
Increase access to abortion services: By training more abortion providers, MSFC helps ensure that women have access to safe and legal abortion services.
Reduce stigma surrounding abortion: By openly discussing abortion and integrating it into medical education, MSFC helps to reduce the stigma surrounding this essential healthcare service.

Key Initiatives and Programs

MSFC implements various initiatives and programs to achieve its goals, including:

Abortion Training Institute (ATI)

MSFC’s Abortion Training Institute (ATI) provides medical students with a weekend long, in-person educational opportunity to learn about abortion and family planning from expert faculty in a small group environment using didactic and interactive sessions with hands-on training simulations. The ATI program includes values clarification, abortion in the first and second trimesters, advocacy training, and a provider panel. Only medical students attending schools located in the US are eligible to apply. Medical students attending schools in the following abortion hostile states in the US are encouraged to apply - Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, South Carolina, and Florida.

Chapter Activities

MSFC chapters play a vital role in promoting the organization's mission at the local level. These chapters organize various events and activities, including:

Lectures and workshops: Chapters host lectures and workshops on topics related to reproductive health, abortion care, and advocacy.
Field trips to abortion clinics: Chapters organize field trips to abortion clinics to provide students with firsthand exposure to abortion care.
Hands-on training exercises: Chapters conduct hands-on training exercises to help students develop the skills necessary to perform abortions.
Advocacy campaigns: Chapters advocate for policies that support reproductive rights and access to abortion care.

In 2018, Medical Students for Choice chapters organized about 1,800 events, which included lectures, field trips to abortion clinics, as well as 200 “hands-on” exercises. Over one-third of chapters either lobby or plan to lobby school leaders to permanently increase the amount of abortion education in the curriculum.

Curriculum Reform

Medical Students for Choice organizes chapter members to push to formally integrate abortion training into medical school curricula. For instance, in 2018, Temple University added family planning lectures to the curriculum of second-year students following a campaign from the Medical Students for Choice Chapter there.

Global Outreach

Medical Students for Choice is an internationally recognized organization with chapters at medical schools and residency programs in multiple countries. MSFC medical students from various colleges across India, collaborating to organize pan-India events that promote comprehensive medical education and raise reproductive health awareness among students and the general public. Some of their most impactful initiatives were Project RED 2.0, a nationwide menstrual and menopause awareness drive that reached 350+ women and adolescents and distributed 300+ sanitary pads. They also lead B.R.E.A.S.T (Breast Cancer Research, Education, Awareness, Screening, and Training), a 10-day pan-India campaign promoting breast cancer screening and breaking social taboos. Through Project Choices, students mobilized peers from various medical colleges to organize OPD-based awareness drives on contraceptive options available and raise awareness about safe abortion rights. 🩺 These students are confronting stigma in multiple languages and building trust in low-resource settings.

Financials and Funding

With annual revenue of $2.08 million in 2024, Medical Students for Choice receives most of its funding from grants and contributions, with the rest coming from program services and investment earnings. Notable donors include Tides Foundation, the 1661 Foundation, the Every Page Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Rockefeller Family Fund, and the Libra Foundation.

Leadership and Structure

Medical Students for Choice is overseen by a 15-member board of directors that includes physicians, university faculty, and medical students. Jennifer Zhang, who studies medicine at the University of British Columbia in Canada, was the board president in 2026. Lois Backus is the executive director of Medical Students for Choice, a position she has held for the past two decades. Prior to joining the group in 2001, Backus spent 12 years working at affiliates of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, holding positions as executive director for both Planned Parenthood of Columbia/Willamette and Planned Parenthood of Central Pennsylvania. Pamela Merritt was named executive director of the group in 2021. Merritt is a longtime pro-abortion activist and writer who previously co-founded advocacy group Reproaction, and held positions at Progress Missouri and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Missouri.

Addressing Contemporary Challenges

MSFC recognizes the evolving landscape of reproductive healthcare and is committed to addressing contemporary challenges, such as the increasing criminalization of abortion and the rise in at-home abortions.

MSFC alum Dr. April Lockley has seen a clear shift in what callers are most concerned about since the 2022 Supreme Court decision. Before, many were anxious about how much pain they might experience. “The anxiety around a medical provider knowing they’re pregnant at all, the concern about legal safety - that anxiety is much more prevalent,” she said. The threat of criminalization is very real for physicians, too. “In order to help protect people and help keep people safe, we want to give them accurate information so that they can decide for themselves if this is something that they want to do and what their options are,” Lockley said.

More People Are Having Abortions At Home. Future physicians are better prepared to serve their communities when abortion care education is treated as essential. MSFC chapters in various medical schools have responded to legislation that affects patient care and helped shift the culture of the medical community around abortion care.

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