1 of 15

Nurturing Tomorrow’s Abortion Providers and Physician Advocates for Reproductive Freedom and Justice, and Collective Liberation

Aliye Runyan MD (she/her) and Avanthi Jayaweera MD (she/her)

Saturday, February 10, 2024

Reproductive Health Project

American Medical Student Association

2 of 15

American Medical Student Association

AMSA Reproductive Health Project Staff and National AMSA Board Member

arunyan@amsa.org

jkoetje@amsa.org

bmartin@amsa.org

anna.hindman@amsa.org

For more info: www.amsa.org/rhp

M.D.

avanthi.jayaweera@amsa.org

3 of 15

Funding for this project has been supported by a grant received from an anonymous donor

We do not have any conflicts of interest to disclose.

AMSA accepts no money, gifts, or hospitality from the pharmaceutical and health insurance industry to avoid conflicts of interest in medical education and practice

American Medical Student Association

Disclosures

4 of 15

  • Provide intro to AMSA’s Reproductive Health Project

  • Explore the power and potential of liberatory pedagogies for justice-centered medical education

  • Imagine new possibilities for medical education relevant and responsive to the challenges and needs of the 21st Century

American Medical Student Association

What We Will be Reviewing Today:

5 of 15

The AMSA Reproductive Health Project works with AMSA members, chapters, alumni, and allies to advance equitable abortion care access, and to ensure a diverse physician workforce that includes highly skilled, culturally competent physicians prepared to provide abortion services to those who need them in various health care settings.

Now in the fifth year of operation, the AMSA Reproductive Health Project develops and delivers politically-conscious educational programing in support of issue awareness, consciousness raising, clinical skills development, advocacy training, community-building, and local action opportunities related to reproductive health, rights, and justice.

We are a project of reproductive health medical education, focused on abortion care training, committed to doing this work in alignment with and following the moral, ethical, and political vision of the Reproductive Justice Movement.

 

American Medical Student Association

AMSA Reproductive Health Project

6 of 15

American Medical Student Association

Reimagining Medical Education

7 of 15

American Medical Student Association

Toward Liberatory Medical Education

Paulo Freire advocated for student-centered methods of “liberatory teaching”: see-judge-act

which can nurture critical consciousness in students by inviting students to:

  • see the systems that preserve injustice
  • judge the assumptions maintaining those social systems
  • act together upon the present reality in order to transform it

8 of 15

American Medical Student Association

Transforming Med Ed through Pedagogy of Love

bell hooks engaged with Freirian theory & advocated for even deeper engagement with the humanity of learners through what she referred to as Pedagogies of Love and Hope

Critiquing norms of Western education: “the classroom [is used] to enact rituals of control that were about domination and the unjust exercise of power."

The Pedagogy of Love humanizes learning by engaging students in an ongoing process of self-exploration. When love is embedded in our pedagogical practices, students are able to recognize that their needs, their desires, their wants, or whatever it is that motivates them, matter.

9 of 15

  • Sociopolitical and Analytical: Reproductive Justice framework (centering human rights and justice for those most targeted; centering people rather than centering issues)

  • Pedagogical: Liberatory and Love-based Pedagogies (centering consciousness-raising; reflection + action = praxis)

  • Ethical: Trauma-informed, anti-oppressive educational care for adult learners (centering humanity, human embodiments, and human needs; honoring autonomy and agency of learners)

American Medical Student Association

AMSA RHP’s Commitments:

10 of 15

“The Reproductive Justice elective with AMSA [and the University of Michigan Medical School] was exactly the open, honest curriculum that I was looking for when I started down my journey to self-awareness. Nothing was censored. Nothing was considered “hush-hush.” Every topic we discussed openly without fear of offending the establishment or an administrator at an institution - this was one of the most revolutionary aspects of this course. The topics truly aimed to center the voices of individuals that are working to effect change and are intimately tied to the history of medicine’s intersection with marginalized communities…I had no idea what essential information I was missing until I elected to take this course.”

M3 participant in January 2024 AMSA-UM RJ Elective

American Medical Student Association

Centering Truth-telling, to raise up a generation of Cycle-breakers

11 of 15

AMSA-UM Elective in Abortion Care, Family Planning, and RJ (accreditation through University of Michigan Medical School)

Teach-ins for Reproductive Justice

Reproductive Health Scholars Program

Abortion Care and RJ Advocacy Institute

Reproductive Health Mentorship Program

Values Exploration/Clarification and MVA workshops

Advocacy and Communication Skills workshops

Art & Appreciation for Abortion Providers

Future Physicians for Change 2024 National Conference

American Medical Student Association

Programs of the AMSA RHP (amsa.org/rhp)

12 of 15

Collage, in Celebration of Abortion Provider Appreciation Day, 2022Created by Marcela Trocha, MSc, MD

Poznan University of Medical Sciences �Student Course Co-Director, AMSA Sexual Health Scholars Program, 2021-2022

American Medical Student Association

13 of 15

American Medical Student Association

arunyan@amsa.org

jkoetje@amsa.org

bmartin@amsa.org

anna.hindman@amsa.org

For more info: www.amsa.org/rhp

M.D.

avanthi.jayaweera@amsa.org

We’d love to hear from you!

WeeWe

14 of 15

Discussion

  • What new possibilities for reproductive health medical education are relevant and responsive to the challenges and needs of the 21st Century?

(e.g. post Dobbs)

15 of 15

Discussion

  • What are some barriers and successes that you have encountered in delivering reproductive health and abortion care curricula?