Message from the President – March 2025
As February closes, I am sure many are hoping March brings some relief to the winter snow and cold. I am writing this from the Masai Mara in Kenya, enjoying warm temperatures and sunshine. Travelling has provided me with the opportunity to experience different cultures and meet wonderful people but also, insight into the inequities that exist in women’s sexual and reproductive rights and access to safe care around the world. Women and marginalized persons in many countries lack access to safe and timely reproductive health care.
The SOGC advocates for women’s sexual and reproductive rights and access to care within Canada, but we also have a responsibility to act on a more global scale. We offer training on safe obstetrical care through our hands-on International ALARM training program and we also have partnerships with sister societies including the International Federation of Gynecologists and Obstetricians (FIGO).
Currently, in the U.S., women’s access to safe reproductive health care is being taken away in many states and health care providers are at risk of arrest for performing procedures such as abortions as well as prescribing medications for the same purpose. Now, global health initiatives, many targeted toward reducing maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity and HIV prevention and treatment, are being cut with the defunding of USAID. Further, cuts in federal funding to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other federal funded agencies threaten medical and scientific research, public health and disease prevention programs and health insurance for low-income Americans. Accurate health information is being removed from federal websites.
The SOGC recognizes it has a responsibility to women and gender-diverse people to provide accessible, accurate and timely health information that allows them to make informed reproductive and sexual health choices. With access to sexual and reproductive health information being threatened south of the border, we need to consider how as an organization we can help fill this void. In May, we will be attending the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Annual Clinical and Scientific meeting and having discussions with our American counterparts on how we can assist and support them. I considered whether this trip is necessary, as I had decided that I would not travel to the U.S., given the current administration. This trip will be the exception, as we need to support our colleagues.
Meanwhile, March 8th is International Women’s Day and March 11th is Canadian Women Physicians Day. Take time to celebrate the women in your life. To all my female physician colleagues, thank you for all you do.
Lastly, please consider attending the Annual Clinical and Scientific Conference from June 17 – 20 in beautiful Whistler, British Columbia. Registration is now open and can be accessed through the SOGC website.
If you have questions, ideas or concerns, please contact me at president@sogc.com.
Dr. Lynn Murphy-Kaulbeck
SOGC President