- The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy has referred to women as ‘biological parents’
Britain’s physiotherapy body has sparked outrage after publishing miscarriage advice describing women as “biological parents”.
The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy’s members’ magazine Frontline included an article on ‘new support after pregnancy or baby loss’, which omitted the words ‘woman’ and ‘mother’.
The article, written by one of the CSP’s health and safety representatives, referred instead to “biological parents.”
The article said: “Miscarriage” is the term used to describe pregnancy or baby loss during the first 23 weeks of gestation.
“Depending on the circumstances, the biological parent may need surgery or undergo a recognizable labor process.
The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy’s Frontline magazine included an article on ‘new support after pregnancy or baby loss’, which omitted the words ‘woman’ and ‘mother’ (file photo)
“NHS England’s national policy framework is a step towards recognizing miscarriage as a family bereavement that has implications for physical, mental and emotional health, perhaps for months and years afterwards.”
Members reacted with fury to the article, with one source saying: “Removing the word ‘mother’ from a woman who has lost her child is just extremely offensive.
“I can’t think of anything more dehumanizing, about an incident that women will remember for the rest of their lives.”
This article is the latest in CSP’s inclusion campaign, which comes weeks after the organization’s leadership released a position statement on transphobia. Hailing this as “an important step for the profession”, the statement asked members to accept eight policy commitments.
This included preventing the publication of “transphobic comments” on the CSP’s website and internal forums.
Fiona McAnena, campaigns director at the charity Sex Matters, said: “Replacing the word ‘mother’ with ‘birth parent’ in an article about miscarriage is a low blow from the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy. It is completely insensitive to mothers who have suffered miscarriage.
The article said: “Miscarriage” is the term used to describe pregnancy or baby loss during the first 23 weeks of gestation (file photo)
“How can anyone, let alone a medical professional, think that validating people’s so-called ‘identities’ is more important than recognizing the physical reality of real trauma that only can women suffer? »
A CSP spokesperson said: “For editing purposes, the phrase ‘biological parent’ was used once in the article to refer to women, trans men and non-binary people.
“We recognize that this abbreviation has caused some upheaval, as has the definition behind it.
“However, it is wrong to suggest that this is a policy of using gender-neutral language – indeed, the story was tagged online under ‘women’s health’.”
The CSP, founded in 1894 and granted a royal charter in 1920, has 65,000 members across the UK and acts as a professional and trade union for registered physiotherapists.
Around 80 per cent of CSP members are women and 70 per cent of members work in the NHS.
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