Labour MP Emily Thornberry says it’s ‘factually inaccurate’ to say only women have cervixes

Politicians have been debating the issue. 
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Matthew Horwood

Following the Labour Party Conference last weekend, politicians across the political spectrum have been debating the appropriate language for discussing reproductive healthcare. Namely, whether or not it's scientifically accurate to say that only ‘women’ have cervixes. 

Speaking on BBC One's The Andrew Marr Show (26 September 2021), Sir Keir Starmer has said, “It's something that shouldn't be said. It isn't right,” when asked whether he thought it was transphobic to say that only women have cervixes. 

Sajid Javid, the UK'S Health Secretary, responded to Sir Keir's comments by tweeting, “Total denial of scientific fact. And he wants to run the NHS.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, Sajiid's comments have provoked a backlash as the NHS currently recognises that, “Trans men who still have a cervix should have cervical screening to help prevent cervical cancer.”

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Emily Thornberry, the Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury, has said “It's factually inaccurate,” to say that only women have cervixes. Speaking on BBC Politics Live she said, “There are men who have cervixes. There are men who are trans[gender] and they're men."

She was praised by fellow panellist Helen Lewis, who said, “I'm joyful because finally someone has given what I consider to be an answer that is actually responding to the question.” Helen continued, “There are people who don't self-define as women who nonetheless have female biology. But what's really important about that is […] we do need to report gender and sex differently.”

Helen pointed out, “If you want to have NHS records and your NHS records say you're male, we still need a way to know that some of those people will need to be invited for cervical smears. And so we have to – in law and policy – differentiate between sex and gender.”

There's growing concern about people not attending cervical cancer screenings. There's thought to be many reasons for this, including body consciousness, embarrassment, and not having enough time. There are also specific difficulties for transgender people in accessing this life-saving healthcare: from stigma within the medical community, to not being invited by their GP to screenings.  

The debate has been criticised for diverting attention from serious issues – such as transgender people's access to healthcare – to a political debate over whether only cisgender women can have cervixes, which as Emily Thornberry pointed out, is not the case.

For more from Glamour UK's Lucy Morgan, follow her on Instagram @lucyalexxandra.