On this momentous day in the United States, as we witness the blatant evil heaped on American women by the Supreme Court action to end the protection of abortion access, it is time to renew our commitment as a discipline to the optimum health and well-being of all. The U.S. now joins Russia, North Korea and Iran among the minorities of countries around the world now banning or limiting abortion access. I know that Nursology.net viewers hold a wide range of opinions and beliefs related to this issue and it is one of the most difficult issues that women and families face in the course of their reproductive lives. So I invite all of us to consider the wide ranging implications of this on the lives of women and families, and consider the consequences of removing rights that so intimately relate to health and well being.
Two of Nursology.net’s explicit mission statements declare our intention related to health and wellbeing for all:
- Nursology is a distinct discipline that is vital to the health and wellbeing of people worldwide, our families, communities and nations.
- Nursology intersects with other healthcare disciplines, draws on knowledge from other disciplines, and functions in cooperation and collaboration with other disciplines, but remains distinct and autonomous because of particular perspectives arising from the experience of caring for those who are sick or injured, and from the experience of promoting health and wellbeing for individuals, families, communities and the environments in which they reside.
In accord with this mission, I am sharing with Nursology.net viewers the words delivered on September 5, 1995, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing – words that have had powerful and lasting effects on the health of women worldwide.
