The fifth annual Reproductive Health
Symposium is a conference planned for students of all health care disciplines at
the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences and across the United
States. This year, we will have a hands-on workshop on the evening of
Wednesday, November 13th, 2024, from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM at CSETC. This hands-on session for OU Health students that will cover IUD placement, birthing simulation, procedure-oriented suture practice, and more! Spots are limited to the first 50 registrants, so be sure to sign up early!
The conference itself is scheduled to
take place entirely over
Zoom on Saturday, November 9,
2024 from
from 10:30 AM to 2:30 PM and is open to all students, faculty and staff interested. Hosted by Medical Students for Choice, Lumina: Queer Students Alliance, OBGYN-IG, and Building Understanding of Maternity and Pregnancy (BUMP), this conference will explore critical issues in reproductive health, including access to care, medical abuse, under-representation, and reproductive justice.
We’re thrilled to have Dr. Jennifer Lincoln (she/her), a board-certified OB-GYN and social media advocate, as our keynote speaker. Dr. Lincoln educates her community of over 4 million followers on reproductive health and founded ThreeForFreedom, a platform that raises awareness on mail-order contraception and abortion access. She has served as Executive Director of Mayday Health and is President-Elect for the Society of OB/GYN Hospitalists.
The conference is open to students from all colleges with registration also available nationwide. Our breakout sessions will cover topics such as:
- Healing from purity culture
- Reproductive health advocacy in Oklahoma
- Sexual health in Oklahoma schools
- Reproductive health in incarceration
- Birth control options and how to discuss them with your patients
- Repercussions of transphobic rhetoric on reproductive health
We will also be hosting a pre-conference survey as the first conference item which will take approximately 5 minutes and your answers will be completely de-identified. The results of the survey help us gauge how well our conference addresses the educational desires of the student body as they pertain to reproductive health and survey participants will be put in a raffle to win a free MSFC tote bag!
This conference will be a joint effort between the Medical Students for Choice,
Lumina (LGBTQ+ group), Black Student Association (BSA), Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Building
Understanding of Maternity and Pregnancy (BUMP) registered student
organizations at OU Health Sciences and OU Tulsa’s Medical Students for Choice chapter.
Due to the legal restrictions in Oklahoma, we will
continue taking extra measures to ensure everybody’s safe attendance now and in
the future. In collaboration with the advice of professionals and our speakers,
we are permitted to discuss educational aspects of abortion (ex: history,
language of current laws, barriers to care) but cannot provide any information
within the bounds of “aiding and abetting” (ex: resources, identifying clinics
in neighboring states, etc.). We thank you for your understanding as we
continue to navigate this new landscape together while maintaining the core
mission of the Reproductive Health Symposium.
Thank you for your interest in helping us
create a conference that is both meaningful and inclusive, creating a safe
space for students to learn about disparities and sensitive topics in
reproductive healthcare.
Sincerely,
The
Reproductive Health Symposium Planning Committee