PORTSMOUTH — Steph Richards has stepped down as chief executive and parliamentary adviser of Endometriosis South Coast, a charity based in Portsmouth. Richards announced the departure on X but did not elaborate on the reasons for her decision in the post.

"Further to my recent resignation as CEO of TransLucent [a transgender community interest company] and changes in my life generally, an opportunity recently arose to work more closely with Women's Action Network Portsmouth," Richards wrote. She added that her departure was "in the best interests of myself, the charity and the vital work it does."

Her appointment had drawn a letter in March from Suella Braverman, the Reform MP for Fareham and Waterlooville, to Endometriosis South Coast. Braverman wrote: "It is remarkable that a charity established to advocate for women's health would appoint a man, without female anatomy or experience of this disease, to speak for those whose suffering is defined by their sex. This regressive decision erases women from their own health issues, replaces lived female experience with male self-identification and silences the very people your organisation claims to represent."

Jodie Hughes, the founder of Endometriosis South Coast, defended the appointment by pointing to leadership at other health charities. "The CEO of Prostate Cancer [UK] is a female - they can't get prostate cancer," Hughes said.

Endometriosis is a condition where tissue similar to the lining of the womb grows in other places, such as the ovaries and fallopian tubes, according to the NHS website. It can affect women of any age and can cause pain and fertility problems, the NHS website states.