Ministers tell General Medical Council that ‘women are women’ after body removed the words ‘mother’ from maternity guidance

• Lord Markham vows to speak to the GMC about ‘importance of correct language’

Ministers will tell the General Medical Council that ‘women are women’ after the medical body removed the words ‘mother’ from maternity guidance. 

Health minister Lord Markham told the House of Lords that he would speak to the GMC, which maintains the official register of medical practitioners, about ‘the importance of correct language’.

He also warned of the ‘unintended and adverse health consequences’ that removing language around biological sex could have. 

It comes after The Telegraph last month published an internal memo circulated by the GMC, saying that it had replaced the use of phrases like ‘surrogate mother’ with ‘surrogate parent’ in internal guidance for pregnant employees. 

References to women were also reportedly removed from its internal menopause policy when both documents were updated in May 2023. 

Ministers will tell the General Medical Council that ‘women are women’ after the medical body removed the words ‘mother’ from maternity guidance (Stock image)

The GMC reportedly replaced the use of phrases like ‘ surrogate mother’ with ‘surrogate parent’ in internal guidance for pregnant employees (Stock image)

Lord Markham told Peers: ‘I’m quite happy to talk to the GMC about their use of language, the importance of the use of correct language and the feelings of all of us in the House today – that is clear – about women who are women and mothers, and men who are male and fathers.’

The minister added: ‘The Government is clear that biological sex matters and there are different health needs between the sexes.

‘Removing language around biological sex has the potential for unintended and adverse health consequences.’

Labour’s Baroness Dianne Hayter of Kentish Town, questioned whether the document eroded the ‘public confidence’ in the GMC.

She added: ‘I wonder how many mothers would have confidence in a doctor that thinks that men can have babies.

‘It may be their internal guidance that has upset some of us, but actually, they regulate doctors. How they oversee them, how they train them, how they interview them, the language they use, matters.’

A GMC spokesperson said: ‘We have clearly titled policies for our staff, including maternity, paternity and adoption policies. We review these regularly in consultation with our staff.’

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