Gender inequity is pervasive in healthcare. Between stigma, delayed and incorrect diagnoses, gender bias, not being taken seriously, under-representation in clinical trials, and insufficient funding for health issues impacting women and gender diverse people, women face numerous barriers to high-quality care and equitable outcomes in healthcare. These issues are just the tip of the iceberg, and racism, classism, ableism, homophobia, and transphobia further shape women’s experiences of healthcare.
This week is Women’s Health Week, which was started by the U.S. Department of Health to help raise awareness of women’s health issues. Here are three areas we as Liberal Democrat Women would like to draw attention to for this week.
Abortion
With the Trump administration continuing to attack the right to abortion and reproductive healthcare, now more than ever we as Liberal Democrats must be firm in our support for the right to choose, and in our solidarity with those who have lost that right.
Women across the globe are impacted by the actions of the Trump administration. For example, the global gag rule was reinstated in January, which prevents NGOs who provide abortion services or advocate for abortion rights from receiving aid from the US. Billions of dollars of foreign aid are affected by this, and 690 million women of reproductive agelive in countries impacted by the global gag rule. This is denying women and gender diverse people safe access to healthcare.
In the UK, Liberal Democrat Women will continue to advocate for the decriminalisation of abortion, because nobody deserves to be criminalised for accessing healthcare and making decisions over their own body. Abortion is healthcare.
Healthcare in pregnancy and the neonatal period