Pregnant woman, or pregnant person?

In recent years, it has become normalized to refer to pregnant women as pregnant people. When I was pregnant with my firstborn, I noticed this in various forms of medical literature. Much of it was in articles from legitimate medical sources. This isn't just a trend on social media, it has actually become commonplace to use this term and we as individuals are being encouraged to use it too. The words and expressions that people use are always influenced by the culture around them, and the world that they live in. In the case of the West, that world is now one where authorities, including the most important in delivering information relevant to pregnant women, are deviating from actual medical realities for the sake of ideology. They seek to further an agenda that proclaims to advocate rights and equality when in essence it has nothing to do with that. Women who do not identify as women are in an extreme minority, and they should be treated as such.

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CountScrofula · 41-45, M

This is hand-wringing nonsense, this has literally no impact on the medical needs of women. It's inventing a horrific outcome of this because the notion of accommodating people is too horrifying to think of. By this logic we shouldn't have wheelchair ramps.

SW-User

@CountScrofula What?

CountScrofula · 41-45, M

@SW-User It's an accommodation right. You accommodate the needs of others by making adjustments on your part.

Nonbinary folks and the rare transman may get pregnant. Calling them women not only erases them, it -also- leads to medical problems for them because hospitals will not know what the fuck to do with them. Any impact on others is marginal. Wheelchair ramps cost extra time and money and can get in the way of shit. Too bad that's how accommodation works.

SW-User

@CountScrofula

It's an accommodation right. You accommodate the needs of others by making adjustments on your part

What about the need of a pregnant woman to read material that describes her as a pregnant woman? Needs ought to only be accommodated if there is a practical purpose to doing that, or if it suits the majority. There is always a greater need when there is a majority, because there is a much larger percentage of people to consider. I suspect that the majority of people across the world are quite happy with the term "pregnant woman" (obviously in their respective languages), and would rather see that in their literature.

To address your wheelchair example, adjustments made for wheelchair users fulfill the first need mentioned above. There is a practical reason some people require such adjustments. Nonetheless, a lot of places don't provide those adjustments at all.

CountScrofula · 41-45, M

@SW-User

> There is a practical reason some people require such adjustments.

Yeah and there are practical reasons for these adjustments as well.

Hospitals have staff. They have procedures. All of these staff are trained and or educated to follow procedures and do their jobs.

The recent shift in our culture to be kind and inclusive to trans and nonbinary people means that we have to adjust shit like our medical protocols. Part of that is the language we use because language informs everything.

If you believe only women can get pregnant, and someone who does not want to be called a woman EVER shows up while pregnant, how do you think hospital staff will treat that person?

I work at a university and have colleagues who write papers on this. The answer is: not well.

We are at a social crossroads. We have a lot of trans and nonbinary people now. We either include them or not and including them requires that we amend our language -especially- in a medical context.

SW-User

@CountScrofula

I work at a university

What as, a janitor? 😂

colleagues who write papers on this

.

lol. Of course.

There are negative implications to changing medical literature aimed at informing and educating pregnant women about their pregnancies, and this is why some medical authorities are choosing not to change this term. I am not saying that trans men and non-binary people should not be referred to differently by their doctors if there is an agreement to do that, and I am also not saying that trans men and non-binary people should not be represented at all in medical literature pertaining to pregnancy. What I *am* saying is that the term pregnant woman should not be replaced by pregnant person.