An NHS trust has been slammed for using the term “birthing people” in a pilot scheme for mothers who have gone through a traumatic birth.
NHS South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board announced that Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocates are now available to “support women, birthing people and families” who have experienced an “adverse outcome” such as a stillbirth.
The Trust also referred to a “person who gave birth”, and only used the term “mother” towards the end of its announcement.
‘Sex matters’
Local MP Nick Fletcher said the language was ‘unacceptable’: “Sex matters, especially in healthcare. It is not responsible or safe for the NHS to collude in the idea that any of us can change sex.
“Stop being cowardly. Start respecting women, safeguarding, science, truth.”
It is not responsible or safe for the NHS to collude in the idea that any of us can change sex.
Cathy Winfield MBE, Chief Nursing Officer at the NHS trust, claimed that local communities “asked us to use this inclusive language, which we are happy to support and will continue to do so”.
‘Chestfeeding’
Last month, the Health Secretary criticised the University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust for claiming gender-confused men can breastfeed their children just as well as women.
The trust claimed that “human milk”, including ‘male secretions’, was the “ideal food for infants”, but Victoria Atkins called it “extraordinary that a trust thought this was an appropriate use of their time”.
She said society must make a “robust case to refuse to wipe women out of the conversation”, adding: “When I see reports of mothers as ‘people who give birth’! No – they are mums.”
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