Monday 6 March 2023 is International Women's Day. Consider how far we have come since the first Women’s Day, which was on 19 March 1911. In many respects we have made astonishing progress- voting rights, property rights, greater equality in the work force and better health care (thankyou, science!).
The National Women’s Health Strategy, which has a strong focus on equitable access to health services, was recently adopted by RANZCOG (Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetrics and Gynecology). However, in 1911 there were fewer than 2 billion people in the world and now there are more than 8 billion. Our rapidly increasing population has meant that access to good health care is variable, in our own community as well as worldwide.
In South Australia we have been the beneficiaries of another major step forward in women’s health and rights with the legalization of abortion in 2022. Around 1 in 3 women in South Australia will have a termination of pregnancy during their reproductive life.
At AWARE Women’s Health we have developed an online assessment tool for women to access information on medical abortion services at any time, and to streamline access to this service. We are hoping it will be adopted by other health services providing medical abortion.
Happy International Women's Day!