The emergency room doctor asked me if the pain could be anxiety. I was nineteen, and I disagreed. I was discharged again. That was my second time in the emergency room within two days. The day after, I visited the only doctor that would believe me and show diligence: my aunt, Dr. Beata. What a privilege it is to know Dr. Beata, the saving grace. It was found that my ovaries were filled with water and my fallopian tubes were inflamed. I was sent to Royal Prince Alfred and visitors were not able to accompany patients. It was 8pm, in pain and scared, my mom made me a sandwich and dropped me off. The female nurse gave me a juice box.
The next week, I went to the gynecologist. When I asked about birth control, I was shamed for it and told that condoms would not be enough for me. The frustrating part was not being told what else I could do. In the waiting room, there were pregnant women with their husbands waiting.
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A groundbreaking study by Western Sydney University researchers and co-designed by consumer organizations has revealed more than 1 in 10 Australian women feel they have experienced some form of obstetric violence. Being denied knowledge about your own body and consequently being denied information and advice on how to control your reproductive organs are forms of obstetric violence.
To see a gynecologist in Sydney, $200 is the lowest a patient is able to pay for a consultation (not including the Medicare rebate). The less someone is able to pay, the longer the waiting time is. Some appointments are completely covered by Medicare but the waiting time is, once again, astronomical. To illustrate, Linsey Daly-Vincent has been waiting for two years for an initial appointment with a public gynecologist in Sydney for endometriosis. An alternative option might be the to pay $550 for an initial appointment but wait six months, in debilitating pain.
Studies show that women from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds are more likely to experience teen pregnancy, stillbirth, and pregnancy complications and tend to possess inadequate knowledge of STIs, menstruation, menopause, and the importance of cervical screening. Many women from CALD backgrounds are raised in conservative households that provide little to no information about the reproductive system or even turn to shame their women for seeking help. If a woman cannot ask her family and the doctor about it, then where does she go? The answer is grim. The answer is nowhere.
Dr. Ahmadzai, obstetrics and gynecologist registar at Canberra Health Services, explains that in some ethnic groups, contraception use is forbidden or frowned upon while research shows that 23% of culturally diverse women in Australia are “too embarrassed” to access sexual and reproductive health services while 12% cite “shame if anyone sees me.”
In these communities, language interpreters may be needed to ensure the information is communicated correctly, therefore adding more fees on top of the – already expensive – medical bills. Even if language interpreters are available, patients might refuse due to the fear of the interpreter being someone in their community. Some other barriers when considering CALD patients is that the limited number of doctors who are committed to providing quality care to CALD communities are overworked and exhausted, which in turn, prolongs waiting lists, causing more complications by either worsening health conditions or leaving room for patients to change their minds or having their circumstances drastically changing, impacting their ability to seek reproductive care.
There is no comprehensive data or information to even provide a concrete answer as to how long women are waiting for gynecologists, public and private. States such as Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and Queensland publish the data pertaining to their wait times for specialist doctors, however, New South Wales does not. The Labour government had a proposal about setting up the Australian Health Reform Commission to improve access to specialist doctors but it was ultimately abandoned in 2022. Shamefully, no new proposals regarding the issue have been made since.
It must be acknowledged that women’s reproductive rights have been historically underfunded and underappreciated. It is time to amplify the discourse surrounding women’s reproductive rights, to fund Family Planning Australia, to e-mail and call your local representatives to ask of their plans support the cause. There is so much to do but here is a start: Family Planning NSW accepts donations, provides information, courses in over 15 languages: https://www.fpnsw.org.au/donate.
