100 years leading women's health and rights
Family Planning Australia launched celebrations for its 100th year of operation and Women's Week NSW today with noted activist and women's rights campaigner Wendy McCarthy AC telling dignitaries and staff the organisation had "changed the rules for all of us".
"Family Planning Australia opened its doors in 1926, launched the nation's first birth control clinic in 1933 and brought the Pill to Australia in 1961. These advances were happening at a time when birth control, abortion and reproductive rights were not part of the daily conversation. Family Planning Australia never shied away from starting the tough conversations and finding ways to provide people with the care they needed," Wendy said.
"Since opening its donors in 1926, Family Planning Australia has been at the forefront of our nation's journey into sexual health, women's rights and reproductive education.
"Family planning was and still is the place you go to for trusted advice, it has survived for 100 years because it has always brought crucial services to women, often at times when there was simply nothing else."
Wendy was elected to the Family Planning Board in 1975 and later became the first professional Media, Information and Education Officer, a role she shared with Antoinette Wyllie. Wendy has spent over five decades championing the rights of women and girls.
Family Planning Australia CEO Sue Shilbury said taking time during NSW Women's Week to reflect on the nation's sexual health journey was important as so much of the organisation's history was connected to the emergence of women's rights and reproductive autonomy.
"In the 1970s when Family Planning Australia started making contraception available to all women, regardless of if they were married or had their husband's permission, this was literally groundbreaking and it wasn't until 1996 that society formally caught up with the Married Persons Equality of Status Act giving all people, regardless of gender the right to consent to their own medical treatment," Sue said.
"We've been offering sex education and talking about consent since 1942 and in 2019 we championed the NSW Parliament's decriminalisation of abortion.
"We know there is still work to do. Women continue to face healthcare challenges such as medical misogyny, low rebates for critical procedures and medications and a lack of understanding for significant issues like menopause. However, when we look at the progress that has been made organisationally and socially, it is still very humbling.
"Caring for women and their unique health needs will always be a priority for us but over time we have certainly shifted and are now looking beyond reproduction to serving a range of ages, sexualities and health issues."
The lunchtime seminar was held on 4 March 2026 at Family Planning Australia's Newington Health Hub which includes a day surgery, health clinic, education and research centre. The event marks the formal launch of the organisation's centenary year. Learn more
Media enquiries:
P: 0402 880 653 E: media@fpnsw.org.au W: https://www.fpnsw.org.au
