An NHS trust has issued a statement after a poster appearing to show a pregnant trans woman was circulated online. The poster, which bears the trust’s logo, was titled “Your body during pregnancy” and showed the anatomy of three pregnant figures. Some social media users objected to the implication that one figure was a trans woman or “a pregnant man”.
Sharing the image, right-wing US commentator Joey Mannarino wrote on X: “This is up in the NHS in the UK. Taxpayers paid to print this. What in the world has happened to the UK?”. However, a spokesperson for King’s College NHS Foundation Trust said: “This poster has not been produced by the Trust, nor is it on display in any of our hospitals.”
The illustration style on the poster matches ones images sold by The Educated Birth, a company that creates “inclusive, intersectional reproductive health education”.
Its website states that diverse representation is necessary for a safe and equitable health system.
A poster bearing the same figure alongside others with varying features and skin tones is titled “anatomy of a pregnant person illustrations”.
It was not clear who produced the poster bearing the NHS trust’s logo. The Educated Birth has been contacted for comment.
Claims that the poster was on display in the NHS were spread by several accounts objecting to the depiction of a “pregnant man”.
However, other social media users pointed out that women can also have short hair and that trans women who still have male reproductive organs can become pregnant.
Another user suggested that the figure in question could be a woman who has had a doubled mastectomy but is “no less a woman capable of getting pregnant”.
