Three trainee midwives will today claim sex discrimination by the Department of Health after their bursaries were stopped when they took maternity leave to have their own babies.

Clare Fletcher, Tracey Parkes and Shelley Wilkinson will take their cases to an employment appeal tribunal in London today.

Dave Prentis, general secretary of the midwives' union, Unison, which is backing their claim, branded the situation "ridiculous", and called on the DoH to take action to prevent other trainees being penalised in the same way.

"Unison has been campaigning for years for maternity rights for trainees in the NHS. We want to see an end to the bursary system and pay not poverty for trainees," he said.

"It seems ridiculous that when the country is crying out for more midwives and the NHS is supposed to be committed to family friendly policies, trainees are being penalised for having babies," he said.

Clare Fletcher, 41, gave up a highly-paid professional career to train as a midwife, and is a working mother with two sons. She said: "I hope that the tribunal will find in our favour as in the two and a half years the case has taken, I have been contacted by many other trainee midwives who have found themselves and their babies suffering terrible hardship, as a result of having children whilst training."

She added: "The irony of being deprived of any kind of maternity rights is not lost on midwives, and the knowledge that it would be a simple matter for the secretary of state to amend the bursary scheme, so that trainee midwives and their babies are not left suffering financial or emotional hardship does little to make us feel valued members of the health service, and stretches our loyalty to the extreme."

The bursary system allows for sick leave, but stops payments if a trainee takes maternity leave.

The case is also backed by the Royal College of Midwives, the Maternity Alliance and the Equal Opportunities Commission.