Birthrights is pleased to announce a new Chair of their Trustees who will be joining the board this month.
Sonia Adesara is an NHS doctor (GP) and campaigner who has previously worked in national health policy as the National Medical Director’s Clinical Fellow.
She has written extensively on issues of migrants’ rights and reproductive justice and regularly features on UK and international broadcast media discussing health and politics.
Sonia, who is based in North London, first came across Birthrights at a healthcare professional’s training session a few years ago which she found eye-opening and incredibly useful.
“She said: “I learnt how policies, laws and discrimination were harming my patients. It made me reflect on my own agency and responsibility as a health worker to better support women and birthing people in navigating an imperfect system, advocating for their rights, and campaigning for better maternity care.“
“After working in the NHS for over a decade, I have lost count of the number of times women and birthing people have been ignored, disrespected and experienced unacceptably poor maternity care. The UK’s maternity services are clearly failing to meet their needs.”
Hazel Williams, Chief Executive of Birthrights said: “The board of Trustees and I are delighted Sonia will be joining us as our Chair. Sonia is passionate about the rights of women and birthing people, with expertise in addressing health inequality for people who are marginalised. I am looking forward to working together to achieve our vision of safe human rights respecting maternity care for everyone, with a particular focus on ending systemic racism within the system” for everyone”
Sonia added: “It is a real privilege to take on the role as I have hugely admired the work of Birthrights.”
Sonia added: “It is a real privilege to take on the role as I have hugely admired the work of Birthrights.”
“Not only does Birthrights support women and birthing people to navigate the system and advocate for their rights, but it also challenges institutions and laws that are violating rights and addresses the entrenched inequality and discrimination that is causing harm.”
In addition to being a trustee at Birthrights Sonia is a spokesperson for Doctors for Choice UK, an organisation that campaigns for the decriminalisation of abortion. She sits on the executive committee of abortion rights and is an ambassador for the gynaecological cancer charity Eve.
She has received multiple awards for her campaigning work, including the Asian Women of Achievement award, and “Future Shaper of 2019” by Marie Claire magazine.
For further information/interviews please email [email protected].
Birthrights is the leading authority on the human rights of women and birthing people during pregnancy and birth in the UK. We believe that all women and birthing people should be able to exercise their right to make informed decisions about their bodies and care, and to do so free from discrimination, coercion and violence. We champion rights by supporting women and birthing people, training healthcare professionals, holding systems and institutions to account, and making visible diverse experiences of maternity care.
Birthrights was co-founded by human rights barrister, Elizabeth Prochaska and doula and author Rebecca Schiller more than 10 years ago because no other organisation in the UK was looking at the breadth of issues in maternity care through a human rights lens. We continue to offer rights-based information on everything from maternal request caesarean to unassisted birth. Alongside the information we provide to women and birthing people and their supporters, we also engage directly with Trusts and hospitals, wherever possible as a critical friend, but we are never afraid to take legal action, and campaign for change.