Political advocacy enables medical students to stand in solidarity with the patients and communities they serve By Jessica Froehlich, Class of 2022 Advocacy has a long tradition in medicine. German physician Rudolph Virchow, widely regarded as the founder of social medicine, talked about how “physicians are the natural attorneys of the poor” and “politics is nothing else but medicine on a larger scale.” The privilege of being with patients through their times of struggle and sorrow, while bearing witness to their courageous stories, is one we can never take for granted. And when we learn of the health inequities our patients experience, it is our duty to stand beside them and to act in the face of injustice. I went into medical school wanting to learn as much as I could about socially responsive care and to make a meaningful difference in my community. I was naturally drawn to work based in community engagement and soon found myself being inspired and mentored by like-minded individuals. In my first year of medical school, I joined my peers in advocating for universal coverage for the medical abortion pill, Mifegymiso, which the Saskatchewan government agreed to begin paying for in June 2019. At that time, Saskatchewan was one of only two provinces that didn’t provide universal coverage, leaving few options for people in need of this time-sensitive service. As part of this campaign, we gathered stories and support from physicians, community organizations, and individuals with personal experiences. They told of the barriers people with uteruses are forced to overcome and the impossible decisions they have to make to access basic reproductive health care. These were not stories of distress, but of resourcefulness and resilience.
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SMA DIGEST | FALL 2020
This was one of the most meaningful experiences I’ve had as a medical student. I was able to see the necessity of working with governments to improve health equity through education and policy changes, as well as the need to increase discussion around sexual and reproductive health to challenge the stigma often associated with it. Last fall the Saskatchewan Medical Association voted unanimously to support the call for no-cost contraception, after the issue was brought forward by Dr. Christine Lett, an obstetrician and gynecologist in Regina. Around the same time, I started working with a group of 12 amazing medical students from across the country to conduct research and consultations with expert stakeholders on the need for universal access to contraception, as part of the Canadian Federation of Medical Students Day of Action. We shared our results with more than 70 medical students and met with parliamentarians in Ottawa to call attention to the issue. We engaged in conversations about how access to contraception is a human right which empowers people, improves health outcomes, and leads to significant cost savings. The most significant barrier to accessing contraception is cost, especially for the more efficacious forms such as the hormonal IUD, which is upwards of $350. Unintended pregnancies cost Canada more than $320 million annually through deliveries and terminations alone. This could be decreased by $35 million if just 10% more people had access to intrauterine devices1. Furthermore, other countries have shown overall health system savings of seven dollars for every dollar spent on contraception2.
