An MP has slammed the NHS as ‘scandalous and cowardly’ after it advertised a new role to support ‘birthing people.’
Responding to of a new position by the South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board, Nick Fletcher, Conservative MP for Don Valley, said the language used was ‘disrespectful to women and to mothers.’
The new job is being piloted in South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw, where 16,000 babies are born every year, and comes following recommendations laid down in the Ockenden Review into failures in maternity care at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust.
According to a description of the role: ‘Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocates help ensure the voices of women, birthing people and families are listened to, heard, and acted upon by their maternity and neonatal care providers when they have experienced an adverse outcome during their maternity and neonatal care.’
Pictured: MP Nick Fletcher, Conservative MP for Don Valley
They will help support those who have gone through the death of a baby, a relative dying while giving birth, an unplanned hysterectomy, being in intensive care, or having a baby with a brain injury.
The pilot is led by NHS England and will provide a trained listener who can help families navigate the support available.
Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocates are independent from NHS trusts but report to the NHS South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board, which is responsible for care in the area.
Pictured: MP Fletcher blasted the advert saying the language used was ‘scandalous’ and ‘cowardly’
The description goes on: ‘Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocates can support women, birthing people, and families by providing advocacy, helping them understand the maternity and neonatal healthcare system, attending follow up meetings where concerns about maternity or neonatal care are being discussed, and supporting them through investigation and complaints processes.’
But people have responded with fury to the use of the phrase ‘birthing people’, which is supposed to be inclusive to transgender patients, but many say erases women.
Mr Fletcher vented his anger over the language on X, saying: ‘Do you want to be called a mother or a ‘birthing person’? What are your views?
‘I think it’s scandalous and cowardly to use that language. It’s disrespectful to women and to mothers. Enough is enough. Do you agree with me?’
Psychologist Dr Pam Spurr responded, saying: ‘MOTHER! All people who give birth are mothers.
‘Please don’t allow the gender cult to destroy language that describes women who give birth!
‘And while you’re asking such things, it’s a massive NO to ‘chest feeder’ and ‘uterus carrier’!
‘This is all part of the big picture of altering the way we view sex, and trying to coax people into gender ideology.
‘We’re fighting back.’
Another said: ‘Forced language by the pronoun police! Women, mothers and grandmothers say NO.’
‘The term birthing person is dehumanising. It’s repulsive,’ another said.
Another follower said: ‘I am a woman and mother – nothing less. Thank you for standing up for us.’
And another said: ‘Absolutely. This utter nonsense must stop. It is deeply harmful to women and children.
‘They are going after mothers.’
Cathy Winfield MBE, Chief Nursing Officer at the South Yorkshire ICB, said: ‘We’re very clear that our Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate is here to support women.
‘Everything we have said about the advocate says that they are there to support women first and foremost.
‘Our Local Maternity and Neonatal System works closely with our communities, who do not all choose to use the term woman. They asked us to use this inclusive language, which we are happy to support and will continue to do so.’