About the Issues -> Curriculum Reform

49% of pregnancies among American women are unintended; half of these end in abortion (8). Yet, as an academic subject, abortion is given scarcely more than a few sentences in most medical school curricula. Many medical students graduate from medical school without ever attending a single lecture on the topic.

According to a study conducted in 1997, only 15% of chief residents in family medicine residency programs had clinical experience providing first trimester abortions (10). Abortion training in ob/gyn residency programs is also severely limited. And only 5% of abortions are performed in hospitals, where most medical students and residents are trained (1).

When medical students and residents are prevented from getting a comprehensive education that includes all aspects of reproductive health, their ability to provide quality comprehensive medical care to women is compromised. Unless medical schools change their curricula to include abortion, the legality of a woman’s right to choose becomes irrelevant. Access to abortion cannot exist without trained providers.

What is MSFC doing

Working in the U.S. and Canada, MSFC student groups are helping to reshape the curricula of today’s medical schools and residencies. Already, MSFC groups have made substantial progress in reforming the curricula at nearly one-third of the medical schools in the U.S. and Canada. The groups' efforts include:

• Surveying curricula and assessing the level and quality of abortion and reproductive health training.
• Developing and implementing elective courses and lecture series, expanding curricula at schools throughout the U.S. and Canada.
• Producing A Medical Student’s Guide to Improving Reproductive Health Curricula, in partnership with the American Medical Women’s Association.
• Identifying key medical school faculty to serve as mentors.
• Tapping authoritative speakers to present reproductive health information to students on campus.
• Training students to become activists.
• Organizing opportunities for students to observe abortion procedures and counseling sessions.

For more information about our work, please go to What We Do and Curriculum Reform.