BPAS exists to further reproductive choice.
Women’s reproductive healthcare and choices remain regulated and restricted in the way they are precisely because they are understood as women’s issues, sadly still bound up with heavily gendered and judgmental approaches to female sexuality, ideals of motherhood and expectations of maternal sacrifice, and the desire to control women’s bodies and choices.
BPAS seeks to dismantle the framework that today is still underpinned by sexism, and achieve a broader goal of ensuring that everyone can access the care and support they need as swiftly and straightforwardly as possible.
BPAS has decided that for us, the best way to continue our fight for reproductive health and rights is by using the word woman in our advocacy. To campaign effectively, we need to be able to clearly articulate that the restrictions and barriers to reproductive choice exists because they are women’s issues – rather than ones that affect all people equally – and that is why we believe language is important here.
Our advocacy and campaigns are designed, however, to bring about change and break down barriers for everyone who is or who could become pregnant. That’s why you may sometimes see us using broader language or being more specific about groups of people that we’re advocating for.
No.
BPAS’s services are inclusive of trans, non-binary and intersex people and we strive to deliver client-centred care which meets the needs of every individual who needs us.
No. We work on the basis of mutual respect.
We work closely with many other reproductive health and rights advocates and beyond.
We appreciate that other organisations and individuals may make different decisions about their use of language while fighting for the same change, and we believe in continuing to work together to achieve our shared goals.