The Department of Health and Human Services has issued a letter to all medical schools and hospitals stipulating that they must obtain consent for intimate (pelvic, prostate, and rectal) examinations before performing them and their Medicare funding could be at risk if they fail to comply. You can read it for yourself here: https://www.cms.gov/files/document/qso-24-10-hospitals.pdf

We welcome HHS's letter to medical schools and institutions and commend the action they are taking to help end non-consensual intimate examinations. 

We look forward to working with advocacy organizations, healthcare institutions, educational institutions, and government bodies to ensure this new measure is implemented effectively, and that points such as whistleblower protections for students, parameters for what a consent process and forms should include, and guidelines around when educational exams should and should not be offered as an option are codified in law.

Stay tuned for upcoming interviews and Q&As with experts on what this measure means, what changes we can expect to see, and what an implementation process might look like. Please also visit us at atyourcervixmovie.com to view a screening of At Your Cervix the film, which will bring you up to speed on the historical context and modern manifestations of the unethical practice of non-consensual intimate exams.

Thank you to all of the patients, advocates, activists, physicians and other healthcare providers, students, and everyone else who has had - and continue to have, the courage to speak up and speak out!!! This would not be happening without you!!!