Former Olympic Swimmer Sharron Davies has praised the NHS for "stating fact and truth" after a new proposal for the service's constitution declares that sex is a "biological fact".
This comes as the Government has announced proposals to ban transgender women from single-sex female NHS wards.
It comes after former Health Secretary Steve Barclay pledged to prevent people who had changed their gender identity from being treated on male-only or female-only wards.
Speaking to Tom Harwood on GB News, Davies responded to the move by the NHS, agreeing that "biological sex is a fact".
Sharron Davies hailed the 'fact and truth' stated by the NHS
Getty / GB News
As a campaigner for female rights in sport, Davies stated: "There are only males and females. There are only two gametes, a large and a small. And human beings cannot change their sex.
"We just have to be honest. And in things like medicine, where it's really important that we are checking a male for prostate cancer and we're checking a female for cervical or ovarian cancer, that we know what sex people actually are."
Tom Harwood then argued that some may feel the decision made by the NHS is a "very minor issue", and that the government is "press releasing and promoting something that affects such a small proportion of people in the country".
Tom asked Davies: "Just 0.1 per cent of the of the public reported that they were transgender female. Just 0.1 per cent reported that they were transgender male. Should we really be spending so much time focusing on something that really affects so very few people?"
The NHS constitution has proposed a change to state 'sex is a biological fact'
PA
Davies was infuriated by Tom's remarks, branding them "unbelievably disingenuous".
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Davies fumed: "You just said that only the trans people matter. 51 per cent of the population in this country are female, and women's rights at the moment have been under attack constantly, whether that's with regard to dignity and safe spaces, whether that's with regards to the loss of their language.
"It's insulting to be called a chest feeder or a cervix haver. This didn't happen to men, only happened to women. It was only women's languages that were attacked."
Davies told GB News: "It affects a huge number of women, how they are referred to and whether they get equal opportunities and dignity and safety in their in their private spaces."
Tom hit back, agreeing with Davies slightly: "You're right when it comes to ridiculous language like chestfeeding, that is palpable nonsense, but that hasn't necessarily been the forefront of any of this conversation."
Sharron Davies says 'women's rights at the moment have been under attack constantly'
GB News
Tom highlighted: "Perhaps what would matter more would be a government focus on the 44,000 cases last year of women and men being forced to be in mixed-sex wards, which was meant to be out-ruled in 2010.
"But because of the pressures that the NHS is under, those rules are routinely being broken irrespective of anything to do with transgender people."
Davies responded: "You're right, the NHS is under unbelievable stress and strain in every single direction. But I think women are quite frightened at the moment when they go into those sort of places. They can't say, please, I would like a female doctor.
"We've got to be able to have this open, respectful debate for both sides, for everybody. Everybody needs to be thought of and be kind to. But for a long time, I think women have just been the ones that are supposed to succumb. And no one is thinking about being kind to them."
