Your Weekly Wrap Up | 5 - 11 May đŠ
Trans rights rolled back. Abortion on trial. Womenâs health ignored. Hereâs whatâs happening â and why it matters.
Self-care note: This newsletter includes discussion of abortion, transphobia, medical gaslighting, and violence against women. If you find this distressing or triggering, remember to take it at your own pace. You may prefer to read small sections, wait until you feel ready to read it all, or choose not to read it at all.
Hi folks,
Iâve been reading The View from Down Here by Lucy Webster this week â a sharp, reflective book about living with disability, and about what it means to be in a body that doesnât fit neatly into other peopleâs expectations. Itâs honest, clear-eyed, and deeply human.
That lens felt especially relevant while pulling together this weekâs stories, many of which ask how institutions treat our bodies â and whose needs are heard, respected, or ignored.
Hereâs whatâs been happening.
Opt-out HIV and hepatitis testing coming to A&Es in Edinburgh and Glasgow đ§«
In a major step towards ending new HIV transmissions by 2030, the Scottish Government has announced new funding to roll out opt-out blood-borne virus testing in emergency departments in high-prevalence areas.
The initiative â launching in hospitals in NHS Lothian and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde â means anyone getting blood taken in A&E will automatically be tested for HIV and hepatitis, unless they choose not to.
The move follows three successful pilots and years of sustained advocacy by organisations like the Terrence Higgins Trust.
Those diagnosed will be able to access life-saving treatment that can stop transmission entirely and allow them to live long, healthy lives.
âThis is a leap forward,â said Richard Angell, Chief Executive of Terrence Higgins Trust. âIt will save lives, reduce pressure on the NHS, and help tackle health inequalities.â
Source: Terrence Higgins Trust
Scottish Government drops plans to ban misogyny and conversion practices â
The Scottish Government has announced it will not bring forward promised legislation to criminalise misogyny and conversion practices before the next Holyrood election.
Ministers say the issues are too legally complex to resolve in time. Instead, they plan to tweak existing hate crime legislation, a move widely criticised by legal experts and womenâs rights organisations.
âThis is devastating news,â said Rape Crisis Scotland. âAt a time when women and girls are facing unprecedented levels of misogyny, itâs unbelievable this landmark bill has been dropped.â
The government also scrapped its pledge to ban conversion practices in Scotland, saying it would now rely on UK-led legislation â a reversal of a key commitment made during the SNP-Green power-sharing deal.
LGBTQ+ campaigners called it âa stab in the back,â accusing ministers of abandoning queer Scots at a time of increasing hostility.
Though the government insists it remains committed to equality, many see the move as a retreat from Nicola Sturgeonâs progressive legacy under new leadership.
Source: The Guardian
Scottish Parliament to ban trans women from female toilets đ»
Starting Monday, trans women will no longer be allowed to use the womenâs toilets at the Scottish Parliament.
Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone confirmed the change in an email to parliamentary staff, saying facilities will now be organised by âbiological sex only.â
The decision follows a UK Supreme Court ruling that redefined the terms âsexâ and âwomanâ in the Equality Act as referring strictly to sex assigned at birth. The ruling has sparked backlash from LGBTQ+ organisations, who warn that policies based on biological sex exclude trans people from public life and compromise their safety.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has since issued interim guidance saying single-sex spaces should also follow this definition â a move that advocates say legitimises discrimination against trans and non-binary people.
Source: The Scotsman
UK clinical trials severely under-represent women, experts warn âïž
Despite pioneering scientific research in the UK in recent years, women are still underrepresented in medical studies.
A review of more than 4,000 clinical studies, conducted by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the University of Liverpool, found that while most studies include both men and women, the number of male-only trials is 67% higher than female-only ones. Representation is even lower for individuals assigned female at birth who are pregnant or breastfeeding; they were included in only about one in every 100 medical studies.
Health experts describe the lack of female-only studies as an indication of the gender health gap and call for more research into womenâs health.
Source: The Guardian
First pelvic health midwife to support mothers in England đ§·
A midwife specialising in pelvic health has been appointed by NHS Humber Health Partnership and will work across maternity hospitals in Hull, Goole, Grimsby and Scunthorpe.
Pelvic health midwife Laura Caldicott will work alongside the womenâs health physio teams and will help new mothers who experience pelvic health issues after pregnancy.
According to official data, around 1 in 3 people who gave birth experience urinary incontinence 3 months after pregnancy; about 1 in 7 experience anal incontinence 6 months after birth; and 1 in 12 report symptoms of pelvic organ prolapse.
Caldicott said: "People have been too embarrassed to talk about it, and we want to change that."
Source: BBC News
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Reform UK to ban Pride flag in council buildings đłïžâđ
Reform UK will ban Pride and Ukrainian flags in English councils now controlled by the party. The only flags allowed will be the Union Jack, St George's flag and county flags.
Reform chairman Zia Yusuf, who announced the ban, said that âno other flags will be permitted to be flown on its flagpoles, balconies, reception desks or council chamber walls.â
After last weekâs local elections, Reform took control of 10 councils, including Durham and Kent.
Source: Attitude
Woman cleared after abortion pill prosecution during lockdown đ§Ș
Nicola Packer, 45, has been found not guilty of illegally ending a pregnancy, after a jury heard she took abortion pills during the Covid lockdown under remote prescribing rules.
In November 2020, Packer was prescribed mifepristone and misoprostol following a remote consultation and took the pills at home. But when she delivered a foetus later estimated to be around 26 weeks, she was arrested and charged with unlawfully inducing a miscarriage.
She denied the charges, and the jury unanimously cleared her after a two-week trial.
Her defence team called the case âa tragedy, not a crimeâ and medical experts and campaigners have condemned the prosecution as outdated and harmful. The case has prompted renewed calls to remove abortion from criminal law altogether.
âNo woman should ever have to go through this again,â said Katie Saxon from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service.
Source: The Guardian
Trans Labour councillor resigns over partyâs stance: âWeâve been thrown under the busâ đš
Dylan Tippetts, one of Labourâs only openly transgender councillors, has resigned from the party â saying he can no longer support a movement that âdenies transgender people basic rights.â
Tippetts, who has represented Compton ward in Plymouth since 2022, made the announcement via X (formerly Twitter), citing the partyâs response to the UK Supreme Court ruling on âbiological sexâ in the Equality Act. He will now sit as an independent.
âThe Labour Party nationally has taken us backwards decades,â Tippetts said. âEveryone deserves the right to live peacefully.â
He added that legal advice received in the wake of the ruling had resulted in confusion over access to facilities, including being told to use disabled toilets.
Tippettsâ resignation follows increasing concern over Labour leadershipâs public support of the ruling and the Equalities and Human Rights Commission's guidance, which advocates say amounts to a blanket ban on trans people accessing gender-affirming spaces.
A coalition of 14 national LGBTQ+ charities has since requested an urgent meeting with Keir Starmer, saying the governmentâs position is creating âa genuine crisisâ for trans rights in the UK.
Source: The Guardian
Pink smoke rises over the Vatican in protest for womenâs ordination âȘ
Just hours before the start of the male-only conclave to elect a new pope, a group of feminist Catholic activists sent up a bold signal: pink smoke.
The protest, led by the Womenâs Ordination Conference, took place on a hill near the Vatican. The group called it a âdistress signalâ, highlighting the exclusion of women from leadership in the Catholic Church.
While white smoke traditionally signals the election of a new pope, the activistsâ pink smoke was a pointed reminder that half the worldâs population is still barred from full participation in one of the worldâs most powerful religious institutions.
âGod is not a boysâ club,â the group wrote in a statement shared online.
Source: France24
Women with pelvic pain report being routinely dismissed by clinicians đ©ș
According to a new study published on JAMA Network Open, patients with vulvovaginal disorders experience harm from certain clinician behaviours, including medical gaslighting.
A survey conducted on 447 patients revealed that 41.6 per cent were told they just needed to relax more; 39.4 per cent felt they were made to feel âcrazyâ; 20.6 per cent were recommended to drink alcohol; and 20.6 per cent were referred to psychiatry without medical treatment.
Researchers call for more studies on best practices for doctors and health workers to reduce such harm.
Source: NBC News
Global health gaps are narrowing, but progress is stalling, says WHO đ
A new report published by the World Health Organisation found that while health gaps have narrowed between the wealthiest and poorest countries, progress has slowed in recent years.
The findings highlight that significant inequalities in life expectancy and wellbeing persist, shaped by factors such as gender, race, income, disability, background, and education level.
For instance, although maternal mortality decreased by 40 per cent globally between 2000 and 2023, marginalised women are still much more at risk of dying from pregnancy-related causes than more advantaged ones.
Among the factors contributing to global maternal mortality, the WHO cites barriers to contraception, restrictions on abortion, a shortage of healthcare professionals, and limited access to postpartum support.
Source: Euronews
Thatâs all for this weekâs wrap up, but plenty is happening beyond the headlines. From workshops to book clubs, hereâs whatâs coming up across Scotland.
Join our Sex Positive Reading Group!
đGlasgow Zine Library đ 27 May đž Free! â°7-8.30pm
The Sex Positive Reading Group is for anyone interested in learning more about sex education, sexual health, how we relate to the people around us, and how society impacts that. We welcome people of all genders, sexualities and ages in a non-pressured, non-academic setting.
This month, we'll be discussing chapter six of Pink-pilled: Women and the far-right by Lois Shearing, which you can access here.
If you have accessibility requests or other queries, send us an email at events@pillowtalk.scot.
Other spicy (and cuddly) events happening soonđ¶ïž
Book launch: The new age of sexism by Laura Bates. 12 May, Edinburgh.
Sapphic Line Dancing. Glasgow, 15 May.
Pleasure Club: Self-Pleasure Edition. 16 May, Edinburgh.
Sex Positive Reading Group (18+). 27 May, Glasgow.
First Date: Romance Fiction Festival. Edinburgh, 17-31 May.
Nathan H. Lents: The Sexual Evolution. Book launch. 3 June, Edinburgh.