Mayor Eric Adams lays out women's health agenda
NEW YORK -- Major changes for women's health care in the city are coming soon.
CBS2 has a look at Mayor Eric Adams' plan to upgrade the lives and livelihoods of women.
"We're going to make New York City the healthiest city for women and girls in the nation," Adams said Tuesday.
The mayor launched into an uncomfortable but necessary conversation about how the city is letting women down when it comes to their health.
"If men had periods, pap smears and menopause, they would get a paid vacation," Adams said.
The mayor announced his vision to change women's health care, including big upgrades for the city's 49.6% female workforce, including:
- Increasing access to lactation rooms
- Paid sick leave for cancer screenings
- Creating more menopause-friendly workplaces
"Menopause is real and so many people are dismissive of it," Adams said. "It's about your work schedule, your sleep patterns change, even why you need that air conditioner on right now because your body temperatures are changing."
The mayor also committed to expanding access to medication abortions at new clinics in Harlem, Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx, which opens Wednesday in Morrisania.
"When they're all up and running, these four sites can deliver up to 10,000 medication abortions a year, and that's on top of what our public hospital system already does," city Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan said.
The medication will be available to anyone from any state.
LINK: Read the report that inspired the initiative
The mayor also announced the city is relaunching the Sexual Education Task Force and will start tracking the rates of diseases like cancer, plus mental health and heart disease among women.
"Women's health is more than their ability to reproduce. It's about being able to live your life on your own terms," Adams said.
The free abortion medication will be available at all four new city clinics by the end of 2023.
