REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS AND HEALTH

Reproductive health involves a comprehensive set of issues that relate to a woman’s ability to conceive and bear children. Reproductive health includes issues such as contraception, emergency contraception, sexual violence and abuse, environmental toxins and reproductive health, HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, menopause, menstruation, pregnancy, reproductive cancers, reproductive genetics, and gynecologic disorders. These medical issues can interfere with a woman’s ability to bear children and/or result in life threatening complications. As a result, these issues are vital to the lives and wellbeing of women and must be fundamental components of quality health care for women.

Unfortunately today, many women find themselves unable to afford or receive the reproductive healthcare they need. For example, women may not have access to healthcare coverage due to cost, may be denied coverage because insurance companies consider pregnancy a ‘pre-existing condition,’ or have healthcare insurance that does not cover medications or procedures.

Women must have access to comprehensive, factual, non-biased medical information and legal, safe, and affordable medicine and medical care to meet their reproductive healthcare needs. This access is fundamental to a woman’s ability to make her own choices regarding her healthcare and to her ability to act on these choices.

YWCA Position
YWCA USA supports reproductive health and rights policies which ensure women have access to comprehensive health information and affordable, quality healthcare to enable women to maintain optimal health, make informed personal life decisions and lead productive lives. The YWCA supports the right of every woman to make individual decisions based upon her own religious and ethical beliefs.