‘Assigned’ not ‘born’: UK hospital’s advice on newborns sparks outrage

A hospital in the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) has advised its staff to stop referring to newborns as “born” male or female, triggering widespread outrage over what a political leader described as “confusion around the science of childbirth”.

The missive from the hospital network suggested using the term “assigned” female/male at birth as an “accurate” description of what happens in the delivery room.

The statement was issued by the James Paget University Hospitals Trust, part of the NHS, the country’s publicly funded healthcare system. The trust is based in Great Yarmouth, a coastal town in eastern England.

Some Western countries like the US and UK have come under increasing criticism from parents for allowing impressionable children to choose their own ‘pronouns’, leading to dangerous and irreversible gender change procedures.

There is also a pushback by concerned parents against the normalisation of homosexual relationship discussions in primary schools.

In the case of the UK hospital, the guidance titled “Celebrating Pride” featured a glossary of LGBT terms along with a list of phrases and expressions that staff are advised to avoid.

For instance, staff are advised against using the term “ladies and gentlemen” to address a group, and instead are encouraged to use alternatives such as “everyone,” “folks,” or “honoured guests.”

Terms like “both genders” and “opposite sexes” also fall under the “avoid saying” category, as they imply a binary view of gender, as well as gender-specific job titles such as “mailman” and “policeman”.

British MP Rupert Lowe from the Reform Party slammed the guidance, branding it “ludicrous”.

“It’s astonishing that guidance from a hospital, which is full of doctors and nurses who have spent years studying, does not seem to know what happens when a baby is born,” Lowe said.

“We aren’t ‘assigned’ male or female at birth. We are male or female at birth. There are sexes. We must not be afraid to say that,” he said, adding that

“There is no confusion around the science of childbirth”.

Following public outrage in recent years, the UK government has taken steps to reinforce the use of biologically accurate language within the NHS.

On October 3, UK’s former Conservative Health Secretary Steve Barclay announced plans to amend the NHS constitution to ensure clarity and respect for biological genders in healthcare.

Barclay’s proposals reaffirmed the right of patients to request intimate care, such as breast or genital examinations, to be performed by staff of the same biological sex, while restricting trans women from accessing female-only wards.

The move was part of a broader trend within the UK government to ensure that healthcare reflects biological realities.

“It hard to fathom that any hospital is still promoting trans activist language more than two years after the then Health Secretary instructed the NHS to return to biologically accurate language,” the Telegraph quoted Helen Joyce, the director of advocacy at Sex Matters, a human rights charity, as saying.

“The leadership at James Paget Hospital needs to get a grip, say no to its trans-activist staff and return to recognising that accurate language about the two sexes matters in healthcare.”