Medical students for choice: creating tomorrow's abortion providers

Abstract

In the spring of 1993, tens of thousands of US medical students received an offensive pamphlet in their mailboxes with the following ���joke���: ���Q: What would you do if you were in a room with Hitler, Mussolini and an abortionist and you had a gun with only two bullets? A: Shoot the abortionist twice.��� Ironically, this mailing was the single most influential factor leading to the creation of Medical Students for Choice (MSFC). At the time, there were few residencies training their residents to provide abortions and even fever medical schools educating their students on comprehensive women's reproductive health care [ 1 Darney P.D. Landy U. MacPherson S. Sweet R.L. Abortion training in U.S. obstetrics and gynecology residency programs. Fam Plann Perspec. 1995; 27: 112-115 Google Scholar , 2 Espey E. Ogburn T. Chavez A. Qualls C. Leyba M. Abortion education in medical schools: A national survey. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2005; 192: 640-643 Google Scholar ]. Additionally, abortion providers were on the decline, and fewer women had access to comprehensive reproductive health care [ [3] Jones R.K. Zolna M. Henshaw S. Finer L. Abortion in the United States: incidence and Access to Services, 2005. Perspec Sex Reproduc Health. 2008; 40: 6-16 Google Scholar ].