By Holly Novak
When you look up the word pregnancy, a photo of a woman comes up. When you think about someone who is pregnant, you would most likely refer to them as a mother or a pregnant woman. But more recently, there has been a language controversy associating the word women with pregnancy.
On one side of the argument, we should be more inclusive to people who aren’t mothers and women, but are pregnant. The term “pregnant people” gives an inclusive alternative. It’s a neutral term we can use to not exclude anyone. Trans men and other people who don’t identify as women can get pregnant. Simply by using an
Rihanna’s Pregnant Vogue Cover, April 2022
exclusive term, sexism and misogyny could be reduced or eliminated. Carrie Baker in an interview with CNN says, “‘Pregnant people’ doesn’t say who we’re talking about. It makes (pregnancy) sound like it’s a gender-neutral phenomenon or a sex-neutral phenomenon,’” she goes on to say, “‘I believe that bans on abortion are motivated by sex discrimination and by bias against women and cisgender women, or just femininity.’” Men – who are politicians – that make our abortion laws are known for being inherently misogynistic. She believes that by changing the term from “women” to “people” we can reduce this misogyny and have more rights.
On the other hand, it could be argued that it discredits women and what their bodies are made to do – reproduce. It’s offensive to women to avoid calling them what they are. In an article from Slate magazine, Evan Urquhart says, “‘Hey, I don’t want to be identified by my biology. I don’t want to be called a person with a vagina,’ and that’s where they’re missing that, yeah, you are a person with a vagina, you call yourself a woman.” His point in saying this is that you have a uterus so you are a woman. We are not called people with uteruses. It’s discrediting and discriminatory to women. It’s a problem of transgender people wanting to feel included and trying to take away the word women from women.
I could find points to agree on for both sides of the argument. I think the term “pregnant people” is definitely inclusive. But again, it discredits women and what their bodies are made to do. We are mothers and that shouldn’t be taken away because certain groups of people don’t feel included. I think people should use whatever language for themselves that they feel comfortable with, but it should never be forced on anyone to use. Overall, I think I could agree with some points from each side of the argument. But ultimately, I think that the term “pregnant people” is a problem and could be offensive to women.
Works Cited
Kaur, Harmeet. “The language we use to talk about pregnancy and abortion is changing. But not everyone welcomes the shift.” CNN, 4 September 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/04/us/abortion-pregnant-people-women-language-wellness-cec/index.html. Accessed 7 November 2023.
Palus, Shannon. Pregnant people: What the debate around inclusive language is really about., 9 July 2022, https://slate.com/technology/2022/07/pregnant-people-inclusive-language-gender-debate.html. Accessed 7 November 2023.