JK Rowling donates to female-only breastfeeding group in NHS protest
JK Rowling is supporting female-only breastfeeding support groups in protest of the NHS.
Many NHS trusts across the country dropped the term 'mother' for terms like 'birthing person' and 'people who have ovaries'.
Some services suggested that 'chestfeeding' by transgender women, who are biological males, was comparable to new mothers feeding with breast milk.
Chestfeeding involves prescribing a combination of drugs to a transgender woman to allow them to produce milk to feed a baby.
The Harry Potter author has now donated to a new breastfeeding support group that was set up in opposition to the health service's inclusion of transgender parents in post-natal support.
MoMa Breastfeeding is a new non-profit organisation which is 'dedicated to supporting mothers who wish to breastfeed their children'.
The group has stated: 'We saw that skills and knowledge were being lost through changes in language and the abandonment of mother-centred practice.
'We realised that support for mothers and children that protects the mother-baby dyad is needed more than ever. That is why we have founded MoMa Breastfeeding.'
The volunteer-led organisation said its sessions will be entirely single-sex, excluding transgender women who are taking drugs to induce lactation. The charity makes an exception for the baby boys who may be breastfed.
Ms Rowling announced her support for the group on X, stating: 'I've donated to this new breastfeeding support charity. Mother-to-mother support is incredibly important at what many women can find a challenging time.'
The NHS has been plagued by scandals about efforts to include transgender people in post-natal services.
In 2021, it emerged that midwives at the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust were told to use gender-inclusive language, including 'mothers or birthing parents', 'breast/chestfeeding' and 'maternal and parental'.
In 2024, University of Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust said that the milk produced by trans women after taking a combination of drugs is 'comparable to that produced following the birth of a baby'.
That same year, Miriam Main, the director of the large breastfeeding support charity La Leche, quit her role over biological males being taught a 'poor imitation of breastfeeding' in classes.
She said at the time: 'I hope that the wonderful work of hundreds of women is not lost through mixing causes and politics.'
Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, has sought to put an end to the encroachment of 'ideological hobby horses' into women's services, and called for an end to 'misguided' diversity, equality and inclusion practices in the NHS.
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