11 hours ago
NHS trains midwives in trans breastfeeding workshops
NHS midwives have been trained by a trans workshop that promotes male breastfeeding, The Telegraph can reveal.
The Queer Birth Club runs 'LGBTQ+' competency and lactation classes, using the tag line 'birthing people ain't all women'.
The group has provided training sessions for NHS England and a number of trusts across the UK, and its founder has given talks at the Royal College of Midwives (RCM).
One nurse who raised concerns about the training is now facing disciplinary action.
The NHS worker told The Telegraph: 'The content of these sessions undermines established clinical standards and introduces extreme ideological beliefs that have no place in healthcare settings.'
Campaigners last night called for the NHS to carry out an immediate review to ensure that 'training and care provision is urgently grounded in biological reality'.
The Queer Birth Club has said that it has also provided training in universities and its courses are embedded in some midwifery and doula training programs.
It promotes breastfeeding by trans women and claims that it is 'transmisogyny' to say that the milk produced by biological men is 'less'.
This is despite concerns over the safety of the milk, which is produced after taking a series of medications to induce lactation.
Domperidone, the drug commonly used to stimulate lactation, was not intended for this purpose, but is prescribed off-label by doctors. Janssen, which manufactures the drug, has recommended against it because of possible side effects to a baby's heart.
Concerns have also been raised about the impact testosterone could have on babies who are being naturally breastfed by trans men.
The Queer Birth Club say that their 'lactation competency' training, which they advertise with a cartoon of a person breastfeeding with the message 'trans joy' covers 'inducing lactation, feeding after top surgery, co-nursing'.
Another of their posts on social media shows a drawing of a person with a beard and a pregnancy bump with the slogan: 'Boys have babies too.'
The club has previously provided 'cultural awareness' training for midwives through NHS England and courses for a number of NHS trusts across the UK. It is listed as a recommended resource on several NHS websites.
AJ Silver, the founder of The Queer Birth Club who identifies as non-binary, has also appeared as a speaker at conferences led by the Royal College of Midwives and says they have trained more than '600 birth professionals'.
In a speaker profile for an event at the RCM in Wales, it says the organisation 'has worked with organisations such as NHS England, Birthrights, Make Birth Better, The Positive Birth Company, NCT as well as universities, collectives and health trusts across the UK and Ireland'.
Those who have attended the courses are invited to join a 'closed' Facebook group of '500+ like-minded professionals' where they can 'build valuable networks and enhance their understanding of LGBTQ+ competency'.
The nurse, who has faced investigation and disciplinary action after saying that the course did not align with her Christian views, questioned whether the content of the courses aligned with the recent Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a woman.
She said: 'Student midwives are being taught and influenced to implement this ideology once they begin working on the NHS front line, which cannot be right, especially following the clarity of the Supreme Court ruling.
'I believe there are serious patient safety implications that warrant investigation. I am deeply concerned that this teaching on pregnancy attempts to downplay and discredit well-established clinical risks, potentially endangering the wellbeing of pregnant women, especially younger mothers.
'The activist network at the heart of this club must be open and transparent and no longer allowed to undermine the law, biological reality and basic standards in NHS services.'
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said: 'The Supreme Court's ruling in the For Women Scotland case has made it clear that biological sex matters in law.
'These workshops risk undermining evidence-based maternity care and compromise the privacy, dignity and safety of both patients and staff. The NHS has a duty to uphold the law and to protect women, not to promote contested and harmful ideologies under the guise of inclusion.
'An immediate review of these programmes must be accelerated, and NHS leadership must ensure that all training and care provision is urgently grounded in biological reality and integrity.'
An NHS spokesman said: 'NHS training should always be produced in line with the best clinical evidence.'
