Last week, the government published its refreshed Women’s Health Strategy for England. There has been plenty of discussion about the plans and what they mean for women. In this blog, our Head of External Relations and Advocacy, Louise McCudden, takes a closer look at the strategy and what it could mean for reproductive health, including abortion and contraception.
The new Women’s Health Strategy opens with a foreword from Health Secretary Wes Streeting. In the foreword, he sets out his plans to address “basic, everyday sexism and an appalling culture of medical misogyny” within healthcare.
This ambition is relevant to many areas of health and wellbeing but there is a particular significance for sexual and reproductive healthcare. Abortion, vasectomy, and contraception can still be stigmatised and much of that stigma is gender-based. The most notable example is the fact that abortion, despite being a common, safe form of healthcare, is still criminalised (in certain circumstances) under laws which date back to Victorian times, although fortunately most people who need an abortion can get one legally. Until Safe Access Zones were introduced, attending an abortion clinic involved the potential for anti-choice harassment. Reforms to abortion law are making their way through Parliament now, and the Women’s Health Strategy reaffirms the government’s commitment to Safe Access Zones. But the sidelining of sexual and reproductive health can show up in more subtle ways, too.
The new Women’s Health Strategy recognises that not only is sexual and reproductive healthcare important, but that it plays a central role in achieving better public health outcomes more broadly. Being able to plan how many children to have and when to have them makes a huge difference to health outcomes and social inequality outcomes, for parents and for children. Sexual and reproductive health is mentioned upfront within the strategy’s very first commitment, recognised as part of the ‘golden thread’ that runs through all plans.
This is a welcome shift when reproductive healthcare has so often been overlooked. At MSI Reproductive Choices UK, we value the dialogue we’ve had with NHS England over the years. We see this engagement reflected in the approach the NHS and the Department of Health and Social Care take at a strategic level. We have made progress together on improving abortion care for the future with effective long-term planning, fair funding, and a real focus on choice. That includes long-term workforce planning, which is why our Deputy Medical Director, Dr Yvonne Neubauer, has been training up new surgeons to provide specialist complex abortion care.
We’re also excited about the shift towards digital technology in the NHS Long Term Plan and the potential that holds for women’s health. We have been huge champions for digital innovation in reproductive healthcare. Digital platforms can be a brilliant resource for comparing contraception methods, factchecking misinformation, and getting timely, confidential access to trustworthy support.
The rise in misinformation online is a big concern. Anti-abortion groups have always weaponized social media to spread false claims, and we are now seeing similar tactics used to mislead people about contraception. We welcome the recognition in the Women’s Health Strategy that accurate, clear information is essential for reproductive health. Social media and digital platforms must be part of the solution, which is why we are so proud of our digital channels, including our website and social media. Last year, this was expanded with the launch of our TikTok channel. Our goal is to reach people where they are with accessible information they can trust.
Making sure people can find accurate, accessible information when they need it is one part of addressing misinformation. It’s also essential to understand why so many women in particular are turning to alternative sources of information when it comes to their health. This is where the Health Secretary’s ambitions on medical misogyny will be critical. If women are not believed or taken seriously by health professionals when seeking pain management or making reproductive plans, they will look elsewhere for advice. That’s why we are proud to centre the experiences of the person accessing care – and why we’re pleased to see the government recognise the importance of listening to women.
