British Scientist Was Uninvited to Speak at a Conference Because She Was Pregnant

Samantha Decombel is a British geneticist who owns and operates a gene-based fitness and nutrition company, FitnessGenes. She also happens to be seven months pregnant.

At the start of her pregnancy, Decombel was invited to speak at a scientific conference hosted by the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium. Decombel let them know how far along she would be at the time of the conference. After later requesting to understandably travel to the conference by train, her invitation was revoked.

In an Instagram post, Decombel explained that the European Commission withdrew her lecture spot for "health reasons," namely to avoid having her travel at such a late stage in her pregnancy. (She shared their email in an Instagram post, shown below.) Decombel argued, "As an advocate for our company, I am in excellent health. Regardless, it should be my choice, as it should be any woman's choice, as to whether to participate in events at this later stage of pregnancy."

While there is a risk involved in doing major traveling during the third trimester, Decombel makes a good argument in saying that the ultimate decision should be up to the woman depending on her own pregnancy journey and medical history.

Decombel ended up asking the European Commission to reconsider, at which point they contradicted their initial response and instead insisted that the withdrawal was due to "other reasons."

After Decombel went public with the matter, the European Commission emailed her yet another response, which stated, "Gender equality is a principle that we constantly seek to uphold and promote across the board, internally and externally — including in science and business, where women are still underrepresented." They also released a statement to Today.com wherein they admitted their mistake and said they will not repeat their "inappropriate behavior" going forward.

Decombel said she is not satisfied by their apology and is currently speaking with a lawyer.