~2 min read
Socialist Federation condemns the new NHS England guidance excluding trans women from women’s wards.
Trans people deserve equitable access to healthcare that respects their autonomy and recognises who they are. This guidance risks making an already difficult and vulnerable experience even more frightening and will prevent people from accessing healthcare - even in times of emergency.
The attempt to turn trans people into a political scapegoat should be rejected on the strongest possible terms. The struggles for trans liberation and women’s liberation are inextricably linked, and we refuse to accept a politics that insists they must be at odds with each other.
The attack on trans people is part of a wider conversation about policing bodies and autonomy of choice. It affects women and oppressed genders who have reproductive or gynaecological conditions, people with disabilities and those who are gender nonconforming. It invites extra scrutiny where people’s bodies do not apply to rigid stereotypes - especially in terms of ‘womanhood’.
This guidance is not safer healthcare. It does nothing more than create barriers and make vulnerable people afraid to seek the care they need. It also does a disservice to both cis and trans women by treating rigid characteristics as more important than human dignity and need.
Our National Health Service should be a place where everyone can access care without the fear of discrimination, which means listening to patients, supporting healthcare professionals and respecting people’s identities. A clinical approach driven by individual need, not hostility.
We stand firmly for trans liberation and against any policy that attempts to discredit an individual’s identity.
An injury to one is an injury to us all.
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