Greens.
https://greens.scot/Manifesto/
https://greens.scot/Manifesto/WomensAndReproductiveHealth
Protecting women’s rights and bodily autonomy
Too often women’s health issues are either dismissed or downplayed.
We want to create an environment where women are believed when they say something is wrong.
Access to specialist treatments for women and those assigned female at birth is too often patchy, with long waiting times for gynaecology, inconsistent outcomes for cervical cancer, and increased risks for cardiovascular disease in women going missed. We need to invest in specialist services and programmes, so all women can access treatment when they need it.
High quality, accessible health care during and after pregnancy is central to achieving good outcomes for mothers and babies, and it starts with investing in the workforce. We want to see more people training as midwives, guarantee them safe working conditions, and ensure there are enough community midwives and health visitors to help new families in their homes in the first weeks and months of a child’s life.
No one should be penalised in their workplace for experiencing menopause symptoms. Yet this is still a daily occurrence for many women. We think that menopause should be added as a protected characteristic to the Equality Act 2010. Without the power to do this, however, we will work hard to improve menopause education and require all public sector employers to treat people experiencing menopause fairly.
The Scottish Greens believe access to abortion is a fundamental right. Abortion care is healthcare and should be treated like any other health procedure. That is why we want to end the antiquated “two doctor rule” and ensure that people do not have to give a reason for why they are seeking abortion care. Nobody should have to justify why they are seeking abortion care, and we believe this will help to remove the stigma around abortion.
- Bring down gynecological waiting lists by investing in services and producing a fully costed workforce plan for gynecology.
- Eliminate cervical cancer by 2040 by promoting uptake of the HPV vaccine and cervical screening, particularly in deprived areas and prisons.
- Fund research into women’s health inequalities, including inequalities in maternal health outcomes for minority ethnic pregnant people.
- Expand the midwife workforce by creating ‘earn-as-you-learn’ routes into midwifery and introduce minimum safe staffing levels on all maternity and labour wards.
- Support Community Midwife Services, including guaranteeing minimum 30 minute appointments with new and expectant parents.
- Invest in the Health Visitor programme, ensuring there is sufficient workforce so that all parents receive their regular check-ups on time.
- Commit to reviewing the safety of maternity services in Scotland, including an urgent review of safe staffing levels and practices on maternity wards.
- Introduce mandatory menopause education for public sector employers, and require that menopause symptoms qualify for leave from work.
- Ensure menopause treatment and support is well-funded and access to medicines such as HRT is secured.
- Develop enhanced support pathways for women with cardiovascular risk factors such as PCOS and pre-eclampsia, including through third-sector support.
- Decriminalise abortion and remove the ‘two doctor rule’ by bringing forward legislation that ensures there are no offences for anyone ending their own pregnancy.
- Expand abortion services in Scotland so patients are not required to travel to England, and retain the 12-week limit on telemedical abortion care, reducing the need for women to have to travel long distances in Scotland.
https://greens.scot/Manifesto/LGBT
A proud and inclusive Scotland for all
From equal marriage to making the school curriculum more inclusive.
The Scottish Greens have led the way in advancing the rights and treatment of LGBT+ people during the devolution era.
But despite significant improvements, the community are still more likely to experience poor mental health and delays in access to essential healthcare, and ongoing discrimination in day to day life.
Trans people are amongst the most discriminated against people in our society. With the hate campaign against them a major cause, there has been a shocking rise in hate crimes against trans people, whilst some are effectively denied access to healthcare with waiting lists of over 200 years for essential gender-affirming care.
In the next Parliament the Scottish Greens will continue to be the champions of LGBT+ people as we always have, delivering the much-delayed ban on so-called conversion therapy, ensuring access to gender-affirming healthcare, and taking action on transphobic, homophobic and biphobic hate crime and bullying.
- Introduce a comprehensive ban on conversion therapy covering all settings, such as religious, informal, community, family-based and therapeutic, with clear protections for affirming healthcare, and inclusive of trans, non-binary, and asexual identities. This ban will be backed by appropriate criminal and civil penalties, and a statutory right of survivors to support and advocacy.
- Ensure and expand inclusive education and anti-bullying programmes in Scotland’s schools and youth programmes; provide targeted support to promote LGBTQ+ young people staying in education and roll out a national programme to address transphobic, homophobic and biphobic hate crime across society.
- Introduce statutory homelessness strategies for all groups facing particular barriers to housing, including LGBT+ people.
- Address inequalities in LGBT+ healthcare, such as improving access to specialist mental healthcare; care for intersex people, and speeding-up the rollout of injectable anti-HIV medication.
- Publish a gender-affirming care action plan within 6 months, to turbo-charge efforts to bring down shocking waiting times. Action we will consider includes funding more training places; providing funding to health boards that do not currently provide gender identity healthcare to start doing so urgently; supporting people to seek NHS-funded care in other countries, and bringing it into line with the 18 week guarantee that applies to many other areas of healthcare, including youth pathways aligned with international standards.
- Work with NHS boards – including Public Health Scotland – and social care providers to address LGBTQ+ health and care inequalities. This will include providing training for frontline health and social care staff to understand the needs of LGBTQ+ people, and increasing the collection of data relating to sexual orientation, gender identity and health outcomes to inform better evidence-based policies.
- Recognise the rights of LGBT+ families to access IVF and IUI on the NHS, and develop national guidance and a standard treatment pathway specifically for LGBT+ families accessing assisted conception.
- Revisit all NHS policy changes made as a result of the Cass Review to ensure they are aligned with international evidence-based best practice. Where there are evidence gaps about treatment options, introduce robust, accessible research trials to ensure that these are filled. We will involve trans children and young people directly in decisions about their healthcare in age-appropriate ways in-line with their evolving capacity, and immediately ensure young trans people have access to mental health and other support.
- Ensure trans people have the same access to Hormone Replacement Therapy as cisgender people.
- Continue to call on the UK Government to remove its block on much-needed Gender Recognition legislation and update it with international best practice.