25 March 2025
by Rupa Huq
Chair, All Party Parliamentary Group on Sexual and Reproductive Health
Rupa Huq, Member of Parliament
Introduction: APPG on SRH Report: Reducing Women’s Reproductive Inequalities
In the UK women are becoming sexually active earlier and having children later in comparison to previous generations, meaning the majority of women now spend several decades of their reproductive life trying to prevent pregnancy. Since women make up 51% of the population, women’s reproductive health and the provision of contraception must be an important priority for any Government.
Despite this, women’s reproductive health has historically been overlooked by policy makers, with only 2% of medical research funding spent on pregnancy, childbirth and female reproductive health. There are also acute variations of women’s access to local reproductive health services due to the fragmented way the system is designed and delivered.
This is why we launched this Inquiry; to gain a deeper understanding of the inequalities facing women; the barriers they face accessing essential services; and to advocate for the solutions, with particular focus on the opportunities presented by community care.
This report is based on the APPG on SRH’s comprehensive Inquiry which was launched in November 2023.
As Chair of the APPG on Sexual and Reproductive Health I passionately believe women have a fundamental right to control their pregnancy choices; to choose when and if they wish to have children. This is paramount for women and girls to be able to fulfil their ambitions in every aspect of their life.
Yet women’s reproductive health has faced longstanding neglect by policymakers and too many women struggle to access essential services they need; facing long waits, fragmented care, and systemic barriers that prevent them from receiving support.
That is why the APPG on Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) embarked on a comprehensive Inquiry into these reproductive health inequalities in 2023. We gathered evidence from healthcare professionals, organisations, and individuals with lived experience. The findings are summarised in our new report, Fixing the System: Reducing Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Inequalities. Overall, it is clear from the Inquiry that action is needed to improve women’s reproductive health and tackle the inequalities experienced by too many women across England.
We celebrated the launch of our fantastic report at an event in the House of Commons on Tuesday 18th March. The event was a welcome opportunity to hear from several incredible people working within sexual and reproductive health, each with experience and expertise relating to this important area of policy. I would like to thank Laura Tantum from the Advisory Group on Contraception; Dr Aziza Sesay, GP and Sexual and Reproductive Health Content Creator; Professor Margaret Ikpoh, GP and Vice-Chair for Professional Standards at Royal College of General Practitioners; Simphiwe Sesane, Medical Educator at Exeltis UK; and Dame Lesley Regan, England’s Women’s Health Ambassador, for their inspirational remarks. I left the meeting with a renewed sense of optimism and determination. We have identified the issues; it is imperative that we now collaborate and continue to make change happen. I believe that the people who were in the room will not stop until we have.
Focusing on the findings of our inquiry, several pressing issues that must be addressed were identified. Most notably, it is evident that the current fragmented commissioning structure results in inconsistent service provision, long waiting lists, and unnecessary hurdles for women seeking contraception, abortion care, and other essential reproductive health services. This, coupled with funding cuts such as a 29% reduction in real terms in Public Health Grant spending on contraception from 2015/16 to 2022/23, means existing services have suffered from years of financial neglect, limiting availability and choice for women seeking care.
This has profound consequences for women, communities, and the NHS, including an increase in the number of unplanned pregnancies, a rise in the need for abortion care, and delayed diagnosis of painful reproductive and gynaecological conditions, and cervical cancer.
Women from marginalised backgrounds also face additional hurdles, from financial constraints to language barriers, making it even harder for them to receive timely and appropriate care. This results in gaps in healthcare provision which are further amplified by growing levels of misinformation and stigma.
Our new report outlines a series of actionable recommendations to address these challenges. The full report lists 13 national level recommendations and eight local level recommendations, as follows:
SOURCE: FSRH Newsletter