Tomorrow sees the publication of the Cumberlege review into three medicines/medical devices where patients raised concerns that were ignored by doctors:
- The hormone pregnancy test Primodos
- Anti-epileptic drug sodium valproate
- Vaginal mesh
When I say "patients" I mean women. You know, the ones with vulvas and vaginas and wombs and ovaries.
The first two drugs are believed to have caused disabilities in the children of pregnant women. The third one was a medical implant that caused excruciating pain in some women. Their complaints to doctors were largely ignored and brushed off as being in the mind.
Do we need to say it again? Women are oppressed on the basis of their biology. Biology is a reality. Womanhood is not a feeling in someone's head.