NEW YORK (WABC) — NYC Mayor Eric Adams outlined his vision for a New York City Women’s Health Agenda, which he says aims to dismantle decades of systemic inequality that have negatively impacted women across the city.
Adams was joined Tuesday by health care leaders as he shared plans and ideas to help close the gaps caused by a lack of access to care, a lack of inclusion and a lack of innovation.
“For too long health and health care has been centered around men, but that changes today,” said Mayor Adams. “We’ve been on the margins of women’s health for too long, and I’ve personally seen firsthand how the health care system is failing our women. It’s long overdue for us to break the taboos and make New York City a model for the future of women’s health care. We will build a city that is here for all women and girls.”
Many women, in NYC and around the globe, suffer from preventable health conditions and face distinct challenges.
For example, in New York City, the average maternal mortality rate among black pregnant women is more than nine times the rate among white pregnant women.
To help combat these disparities, some of Adams’ commitments include:
The city-run Morrisania Sexual Health Clinic in the Bronx will begin offering abortion pills to individuals starting Wednesday.
Several additional neighborhood clinics in Crown Heights (Brooklyn), Central Harlem (Manhattan) and Jamaica (Queens) will begin dispensing the medication by the end of the year.
New York State Catholic Conference Executive Director Dennis Poust said in a statement:
“No woman in a crisis pregnancy should ever feel that abortion is her only choice. Yet instead of offering help to women who would rather keep their babies, the response of our elected leaders is to “they push abortion pills. This policy is an abandonment of women who may need nothing more than a helping hand from the government to choose life for their child.”
State Conservative Party Chairman Gerald Kassar added: “This is abortion tourism. New York has gone too extreme on abortion.”
Heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death for women, while breast cancer is the second most common form of cancer for women (after skin cancer) and the second leading cause of cancer death in women (after lung cancer ).
An analysis by the DOHMH shows that among women, hypertension rates are highest among black women in New York City (41.6%) and nationwide (39.9%), compared to Latino women (26% and 28%, respectively), white women (20.6). % and 25.6%, respectively) and Asian women (13% and 21.9%, respectively).
Experts say the disparities stem from a number of causes, including medical training and the quality of services available, as well as clinical research historically conducted with men and then incorrectly applying those findings to women.
“This week is a bittersweet anniversary as we mark what should have been 50 years of protecting reproductive rights through Roe v. Wade,” said DOHMH Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan. “Instead of focusing on what has been lost, we will put our energy into benefiting women’s health and mobilizing every sector of our city for this cause. As a husband, father of a daughter, ally and physician, my hope is that our city will be a beacon for women’s health now and for generations to come. We don’t have another year to wait.”
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