This week WILD CEO, Jo Davies, was invited to speak at the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Sexual and Reproductive Health.
Jo attended the meeting in Parliament alongside Alison Hadley, OBE, Dr Sarah Salkeld of MSI Reproductive Choices and Lisa Hallgarten of Brook; all highly regarded in the field of Sexual and Reproductive Health.
The meeting, to mark 25 years since the launch of the teenage pregnancy strategy, was well attended by APPG members, many of which are MPs, and all of whom share our view that access to sexual and reproductive healthcare is a fundamental right.
It was encouraging to hear that the APGG exists to promote awareness in Parliament of issues surrounding sexual healthcare and reproductive healthcare. But still, there is more to be done to support young parents, in particular.
Jo took the opportunity to highlight the inequity that young parents and their babies face. Using baby animal figures (as only Jo could), she demonstrated that we are not all born equal and that the babies of young parents do not have a fair start in life.
It was a wonderful opportunity to highlight this to the people who set clinical guidance and standards and champion safe and effective sexual and reproductive healthcare.
Our ambition was to make sure that young parents have a voice at the table and before we left, we asked three things of the APGG:
1. National Leadership of the policy framework for young parenthood.
2. Early support for young parents that is evidence-based and trauma-informed.
3. A national youth strategy to include support for young parents.
At the meeting, Alison Hadley OBE launched the 2nd edition of her book; Teenage Pregnancy and Young Parenthood. Alison is a member of our National Young Parent Network and Director of the University of Bedfordshire Teenage Pregnancy Knowledge Exchange. Her book examines the research and practice in this vital field since the end of the UK Government’s highly successful Teenage Pregnancy Strategy (TPS) for England which contributed to reducing the under-18 pregnancy rate by 72%. It is a wonderful resource for policymakers and practitioners dealing with young people’s health.
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