In 2013, the Birthing in Our Community Service was established in Brisbane by two Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations and a tertiary maternity hospital. A study published last week in peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet found the service achieved a “significant’’ reduction in preterm birth compared to hospital-based tertiary maternity services. Birthing on country involves Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, families and communities in its design, leadership and i

A woman with an unwanted pregnancy to a violent partner, who doesn’t have enough money to pay a private provider for a surgical abortion; a woman whose period is two weeks late; a woman who is over 12 weeks gestation with an unwanted pregnancy in a rural area who had to travel to Melbourne for an abortion; a single mother with mental health concerns and an unintended pregnancy at an early gestation; a woman looking for a doctor to insert a hormonal contraceptive intrauterine device (IUD).

The biggest chunk of money in the government’s women’s health strategy released this month was $20 million for research into ovarian cancer which prioritises early detection and finding a cure. The government has promised $32.6 million to make breast cancer scans more affordable, saving patients up to $1,500 per scan. It has promised $47 million in Medicare subsidies for breast cancer MRIs, a $20 million investment in the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute for research into advanced br

More than 700,000 Australian women have endometriosis, in which cells similar to those that line the uterus grow outside of the uterus, leading to all sorts of symptoms including debilitating pain. Up to a quarter of women with endometriosis are asymptomatic, but most experience dysmenorrhea (painful periods), chronic pelvic pain and painful sexual intercourse, and between 30% and 50% of endometriosis patients struggle with infertility. Endometriosis and infertility “go hand in hand” says Melbou

Unlike Labor's $9.5 million sexual and reproductive health strategy announced last month, which promises cheaper and better access to long-acting reversible contraception and abortion, Hunt has announced cash for four Victoria-based organisations that mostly help couples conceive. "More than $4 million over four years will go to four family planning organisations: Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority (VARTA), the Ovulation Method Research and Reference Centre of Australia (Bill

"I was the loving partner of Naomi Williams," Michael Lampe began his statement on the final day of the coronial inquest into his partner's death. "I had no idea anything like this would ever happen to me and I had no idea I would ever be sitting here in this courtroom today. It just doesn’t seem real. It’s just three years ago I was celebrating Christmas in 2015 with Naomi. Life was almost perfect."

The New South Wales deputy state coroner said "as a middle class woman in the Eastern suburbs" of Sydney she herself would have been referred to a specialist had she presented to a hospital as frequently as a pregnant Indigenous woman did in 2015, before the woman died of sepsis. “Naomi Williams went to a doctor many many times and never got a specialist referral," coroner Harriet Grahame said on Thursday at the inquest into the Wiradjuri woman's death.

Naomi Williams should have been seen by a doctor and asked to rate her pain when she turned up an emergency department in the Australian country town of Tumut, a coronial inquest into her death has heard. The pregnant Wiradjuri woman arrived at the hospital alone just after the new year had ticked by at midnight in 2016, where according to records, she stayed for 34 minutes, was given some Panadol, and then went home. Fifteen hours later while en route back to the hospital, the 27-year-old and

More than 700,000 Australians are living with endometriosis. Cells similar to those that line the uterus are growing in other parts of their bodies, usually around the pelvis, and sometimes in tissues and organs outside it. The disease can lead to debilitating long-term chronic pain, compromised fertility and sexual dysfunction.

Hormonal IUDs make up just 1.9% of the contraceptives prescribed by GPs in Australia, while oral contraceptives account for 68%. There have been 968,000 Mirenas inserted over the past 10 years in Australia, with 754 adverse affect reports to the Therapeutic Goods Administration, of which 205 were pregnancy-related reports.

In a random 24-hour period this week dozens of women have described their nausea, breast tenderness, anxiety, hurting joints, fatigue, inability to exercise, sore neck, weight gain, depression, infertility, mood swings, bleeding and psoriasis which they are convinced is the fault of their hormonal intrauterine devices (IUD). This is not an unusual level of activity in the many private Facebook groups where thousands of Australian women gather every day to share stories and advice about their IUD

Ann-Maree Imrie conceived quickly and was told she had a healthy pregnancy. But at six-and-a-half months gestation, the Sydney mother noticed a change of movement and went in for a check-up. "The sonographer just looked at us and said 'I'm not able to find a foetal heartbeat'," Sydney mother Imrie told BuzzFeed News. "Obviously your world comes crashing down and then you're told to pick a day where they can induce you and you can give birth."

“I was able to continue the pregnancy and we delivered my son early at 33 weeks,” Richardson told BuzzFeed News. She then had a radical hysterectomy, in which the surgeon removed her uterus and the ligaments that hold it in place. “I still had my ovaries but at that time surrogacy was illegal in Queensland and I had reconciled only having one child,” she said. “The surrogacy legislation came in in 2010 and I was single, but I fell in love in 2015 and my husband Dion didn’t have children.” R

“I love this concept that babies can accidentally happen,” Georgia tells BuzzFeed News. The 33-year-old Sydney woman wants to start a family with her partner Max, a 31-year-old trans guy. The couple, both using pseudonyms to protect their privacy, want to conceive over the next few years but have found very little information online to help them in their decision-making process. “At the moment it is a pretty intense process and having healthcare professionals that you trust is important.”

Women Seeking Abortions Are Being Turned Away From Queensland’s Hospitals. This July 2016 article was BuzzFeed News’ foray into reproductive rights coverage in Australia. We have since published 109 stories in which we’ve spoken to patients, lawmakers, politicians, activists and doctors about access to abortion in Australia. It is estimated that half of all pregnancies in Australia are unplanned and that half of those are terminated, but those figures are almost 30 years old. We quickly found that this lack of current data, as well as the fact that access differs across states and territories, became an obstacle in every aspect of reporting on this issue.

Senior military and police officers in Indonesia came forward this week to reveal the nation's security forces were still gauging the "morality" of female applicants by imposing "virginity tests" in the hiring process.

The mesh eroded through Blieschke's vaginal wall eight more times. By this stage, she could smell necrotic flesh. "It smelled putrid and I have since learned that I was having a foreign body reaction, so my body was trying to get rid of the mesh like a splinter that you reject."

"This is, I believe, one of the greatest medical scandals and abuses of mothers in Australia's history," senator Derryn Hinch said before an ongoing Senate inquiry into transvaginal mesh implants. Urogynaecological meshes, sometimes known as transvaginal meshes, are inserted into women as a treatment option for pelvic organ prolapse (when the connective tissue securing the vagina and uterus to the pelvis gives way after childbirth), or urinary incontinence.

She can't wear underwear. She can't have sex. She can't fall asleep without a handful of painkillers and a pillow propped between her legs. "Sometimes it is so aggravating that it is teeth clenching," Janelle, who asked to be identified by her first name only, told BuzzFeed News.

"It has been told to us repeatedly," senator Rachel Siewert told a Perth public hearing on Friday for the inquiry, of which she is the chair. Women who couldn't have vaginal sex due to ongoing sexual dysfunction from urogynaecological mesh "repeatedly" reported their doctors suggested having anal sex instead, a Senate inquiry into the devices has heard.