Meeting of the Parliament 09 June 2026 [Draft]
I start by welcoming Patricia Gibson to the Parliament and thanking her for bringing this important issue to the chamber as the subject of the first members’ business debate of the session. I also thank her for her passionate and personal speech. As it is the first members’ business debate of the session, I think that it should have a special place in what we do over the coming years. I do not believe that we debated pre-eclampsia in the previous session, so I welcome the opportunity to do so today.
As others have said, world pre-eclampsia day takes place annually, this year on 22 May, to raise global awareness about this life-threatening hypertensive disorder of pregnancy. The motion rightly notes that pre-eclampsia is a global issue, with most deaths from the condition occurring in low-income countries. As Patricia Gibson said, 76,000 mothers and 500,000 babies worldwide lose their lives to pre-eclampsia and related hypertensive disorders of pregnancy every year. We know that a large number of those deaths could be preventable with the provision of correct care and medicine. I agree whole-heartedly that this is a really important issue.
The provision of correct care starts with knowing about the symptoms, and the focus of the campaign for 2026 is on educating mothers, their wider family and healthcare professionals on how to identify warning signs such as severe headaches and sudden swelling. Early screening, diagnosis and treatment are key to outcomes for mother and baby, and it is important that mothers continue to monitor their health while they are pregnant. I agree that it is important that we try to change healthcare for mothers.
The key symptoms are worth repeating: high blood pressure, severe headaches, sudden swelling in hands, face and feet, blurred vision and sudden weight gain. Maternity services should make women aware of those symptoms whenever they can.
I mentioned that we did not debate the issue in the previous session. However, much work was undertaken by many members, including some of our colleagues who have not returned to the Parliament. In that regard, I want to mention Monica Lennon, who is my Scottish Labour colleague and who was an MSP for Central Scotland. As members know, Monica Lennon was a real champion for women across Scotland and beyond. She chaired the cross-party group on women’s health and we can all agree that her pioneering and successful Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Act 2021 changed menstrual health for women across the world. She had a very collaborative way of campaigning with other members and with families and people who had experienced women’s health issues. I hope that we can continue in that spirit in this first members’ business debate of the session and onwards.
Monica Lennon campaigned with others on pre-eclampsia to make changes in Scotland to ensure that pregnancy is safer, and the Scottish Government’s announcement of dedicated funding for pre-eclampsia testing, for the first time ever, was warmly welcomed. It is now being used in every health board, and it really protects mothers and babies. Given what we have heard in speeches today, we can see that such testing is important, and the funding for it came about through the collaboration of MSPs and campaigners. Therefore, this seems the right time to thank Monica for all the work that she did across parties and with many activists from her region and beyond. As I have said, I hope that, in this session, we will take advantage of the ability of women to work together on women’s health, as we have done successfully in the past.
I hope that the minister will address the removal of the specific post of minister with responsibility for women’s health and speak to how we can ensure that members can communicate as well as we did with Jenni Minto, who held that role and worked in a collaborative way. I note that, in true Monica Lennon style, she has tweeted this afternoon to ask whether we can have some guidance on the role of the women’s health champion, which was a really important part of that collaborative working.
I thank Patricia Gibson for all her work on the issue and members for speaking in the debate. I hope that we do further work on it in the coming session.