Pregnant women deserve so much better than Trump’s theatre of scaremongering and shame | Kate Womersley

There is no credible evidence linking autism with maternal paracetamol use. But the US president's tough it out' message could harm mothers and babies

• Kate Womersley is a doctor and academic specialising in psychiatry

On Monday, Donald Trump, flanked by Robert F Kennedy Jr and the former talkshow host and head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Dr Mehmet Oz, announced that women should avoid paracetamol (known as acetaminophen or by the brand name Tylenol in the US) throughout pregnancy because of a spurious link with childhood autism.

This political theatre highlights a longstanding and harmful problem: pregnant women, and their babies, are routinely let down by partial, poor-quality and missing medical evidence. Pregnant women deserve better than irresponsible headlines raising fear based on shaky research that has failed to convince the scientific community.

Kate Womersley is a doctor and academic specialising in psychiatry