Women's Health Movement in the U nited S tates

Abstract

Movements to advocate for women's health originated during the women's movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s in the United States. Originally a movement designed to get women more in touch with and to know more about their bodies, women's health movements have grown to encompass a variety of goals that unite the personal and political spheres. Women's health activists developed the significant and widely read text Our Bodies, Ourselves , and famously fought for the right to abortion, resulting in the infamous Roe v. Wade decision of 1973. They have also advocated for better breast cancer research, more funding for and access to birth control, the development of the HPV vaccine, reproductive justice for all women, less medicalized childbirth, reusable and less toxic menstrual products, and better recognition of women's unique health and well‐being needs.