Moms Rally Around Pregnant Scientist After She’s Uninvited From Conference

Decombel shared her response to the email in the caption. “As I am sure you are aware, one of the key hurdles facing many women in science and entrepreneurship is the desire to start a family, and how this will fit in with their career plans,” she wrote, adding, “I do not intend to put the brakes on my ambitions until I need to, and would encourage others to consider why we lay this guilt on female researchers that wish to have both a career and a family.

“Turning away a pregnant speaker, who is in excellent health and has voluntarily agreed to travel to voice her opinions at this event seems to me to be the perfect demonstration of why this is still such an issue for many, and the absolute opposite of what I would hope the European Commission would want to convey,” she continued. “I cannot see what risk my presence at this event would represent for the EC, and hope you will reconsider your decision to withdraw my voice on account of what should be considered a perfectly natural occurrence that likely around half of your audience will experience at some stage in their lives.”

After Decombel shared her story on social media, many fellow moms posted photos of themselves at work, at the gym and otherwise being active during the same stage in their pregnancies. They tweeted their images and stories in solidarity with Decombel in her fight against pregnancy discrimination with the hashtag #7monthsawesome.