Women’s health care an afterthought for the Houston government: NDP

HALIFAX –Today, the IWK Foundation released new research and firsthand accounts of thousands of women on their experiences and struggles to get the health care they need. Strikingly, the IWK research found that 70 per cent of women said the current system doesn’t meet their needs.

While systemic change is needed to prioritize care for women and gender-diverse Nova Scotians and to fund research on women’s health issues, there are steps the government can take immediately to deliver better care.

The PC record on women’s health care includes:

• Refusing to make birth control free, which would save people $300 a year on medication they need.
• Making women wait a year and a half or longer for endometriosis care.
• Not providing at-home HPV screening tests while women in PEI, BC, and other provinces have access to these practical tests.
• Announcing a “Menopause Centre for Excellence” with no action to provide care more than a year later.
• Failing to expand midwifery services, leaving the entire province with less than 20 midwives and no service at all in Cape Breton.
• Refusing to expand cancer screening options for women with dense breasts, even though dense breasts are a risk factor for breast cancer.

“Women deserve health care that helps them stay well instead of being forced to wait until things reach a crisis level,” said Official Opposition Leader Claudia Chender. “When the PC government was campaigning for votes, they made big commitments, but today it’s clear that women’s health hasn’t been treated like a priority. It’s not acceptable to treat half of the population as an afterthought. That’s why New Democrats have proposed practical solutions to ensure that women have the health care they deserve, including expanded menopause, midwifery, and endometriosis care, expanded cancer screenings, and free birth control.”

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