An ovarian cancer charity has been accused of endangering women and insulting victims by claiming anyone can contract the disease “regardless of gender”.
Ovarian Cancer Action sparked fury with its tweet, which featured the LGBT+ rainbow flag and said: “We raise awareness by asking: Can men get ovarian cancer?”
She added: “Anyone with ovaries, regardless of gender identity, may be at risk of ovarian cancer.”
TV presenter Piers Morgan was among the X users who responded to the post and said: ‘What the hell are you talking about?’
“Only WOMEN have ovaries, and if you think men have them too, then you shouldn’t be anywhere near public health.”
Ovarian Cancer Action sparked fury with its tweet, which featured the LGBT+ rainbow flag and said: ‘We raise awareness by asking: Can men get ovarian cancer?’ He added: “Anyone with ovaries, regardless of their gender identity, may be at risk of ovarian cancer.” TV presenter Piers Morgan was among the X users who responded to the post and said: ‘What the hell are you talking about?’ Only WOMEN have ovaries, and if you think men have them too, then you should be nowhere near public health.
The NHS has previously been accused of erasing women from its health pages about women’s cancer, including ovarian cancer. It caused outrage when it removed the word “women” from its main ovarian cancer page and replaced it with a phrase that read: “Anyone with ovaries can get ovarian cancer, but it mainly affects those over 50.”
Fiona McAnena, campaigns director at human rights charity Sex Matters, said: “This divisive stunt by Ovarian Cancer Action in the name of celebrating Pride Month is an insult to women who have suffered from the disease, as well as your families.
‘Men cannot get ovarian cancer. To suggest otherwise is misleading and dangerous, particularly when it comes to the health of women with learning difficulties or those who speak English as a second language.
‘Public health charities should use clear gender-based language to communicate.
“The language of gender identity ideology confuses the reality that sex matters in health care.”
The Ovarian Cancer Action website describes the ovaries as “part of the female reproductive system” and its home page says: “Women not only deserve better, they deserve the best.”
It says ovarian cancer kills around 4,100 women a year in the UK and the disease develops when abnormal cells grow in and around the ovaries and fallopian tubes.
The disease is usually diagnosed late as the symptoms are common and often confused with irritable bowel syndrome.
They include bloating, stomach pain, difficulty eating, and needing to urinate more frequently.
In 2022, MailOnline revealed that the NHS had quietly removed the word “women” from ovarian and uterine cancer advice pages.
It caused outrage when it removed the word “women” from its main ovarian cancer page and replaced it with a phrase that read: “Anyone with ovaries can get ovarian cancer, but it mainly affects those over 50.”
Health chiefs later reversed the change after being reprimanded by a succession of health secretaries who demanded the NHS return to sex-based language.
Announcing changes to the NHS Constitution in April this year, Victoria Atkins said the term “woman” should not be “eradicated from our language to make it inclusive and welcoming”.
She said the update will “ensure biological sex is respected” and that language is “clear” so that pregnant women are not referred to as “service users” to reinforce inclusivity.
Ovarian cancer is a rare form of disease that develops in the ovaries, the female organs that produce eggs. It is often called a “silent killer” since symptoms do not occur until the later stages of the disease.
Kate Barker, chief executive of the LGB Alliance, said: “Activists who seek to replace the biological reality of sex with a fantasy world of magical gender do untold harm.
‘Whether it’s telling children that there are 100 or more genders, telling LGB people that being gay or lesbian is about sexual attraction to people of the same gender rather than sex, or erasing women from healthcare messages because the word “woman” is considered offensive to gender extremists, it is sexist and regressive.
“Today’s rainbow warriors are showing loyalty to a belief that has nothing to do with the values of what was once called “Gay Pride.””
Ovarian Cancer Action did not respond to numerous requests for comment from the Daily Mail.
WHY OVARIAN CANCER IS CALLED A ‘SILENT KILLER’
About 80 percent of ovarian cancer cases are diagnosed in the advanced stages of the disease.
By the time of diagnosis, 60 percent of ovarian cancers will have already spread to other parts of the body, reducing the five-year survival rate from 90 percent at the earliest stage to 30 percent.
It is diagnosed so late because of its location in the pelvis, according to Dr. Ronny Drapkin, an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania, who has been studying the disease for more than two decades.
“The pelvis is like a bowl, so a tumor there can grow quite large before it is really noticeable,” Dr Drapkin told MailOnline.
The first symptoms that arise with ovarian cancer are gastrointestinal because the tumors may begin to press upward.
When a patient complains of gastrointestinal upset, doctors are more likely to focus on a change in diet and other causes than to suggest ovarian cancer screening.
Dr. Drapkin said it is usually not until a patient suffers persistent gastrointestinal symptoms that a test is performed that reveals the cancer.
“Ovarian cancer is often said to be a silent killer because it has no early symptoms, when in fact it does have symptoms, they are very general and could be caused by other things,” she said.
‘One of the things I tell women is that no one knows your body as well as you do. If you feel like something isn’t right, something probably isn’t right.’