Women are too often put off seeking health care treatment due to the normalisation of their physical and emotional pain, a Senedd member has warned.

Leading a debate on women’s health, Delyth Jewell said: “The pain suffered by women in their health care can be physical, it can also be psychological.

“It is unacceptable, it is costing lives … women make up half our population – their suffering should not be treated as normal.”

Ms Jewell challenged an expectation on women to put up with pain from procedures such as smear tests, coil fittings and hysteroscopies.

Her motion called for obligations relating to women’s health to be put on a legal footing.

Joyce Watson, who represents Mid and West Wales, said women’s experiences of pain have been trivialised or dismissed for too long due to systematic failure.

Sarah Murphy, for the Welsh Government, said women’s health continues to be a priority.

The mental health minister, who came into post over summer, told the Senedd she has set herself a deadline of bringing forward a plan on 10 December.

She stressed women’s voices will be at the heart of the plan.

The non-binding motion was unanimously agreed following the debate on 2 October.