Say ‘pregnant person’, not ‘expectant mother’, doctors told

DOCTORS in Britain have been told not to call pregnant woman ‘expectant mothers’ because it might offend transgender people. The warning was made in official guidelines issued by the British Medical Association to its 160,000 members, which says mothers-to-be should be referred to as ‘pregnant people’ instead.

The controversial advice to doctors in hospitals and general practice comes just weeks after it emerged that a Briton who was born female but is having a sex change put the operation on hold to have a baby.

Four-months-pregnant Hayden Cross, 20, is legally male and has had hormone treatment but not sex-change surgery. Even though there are no other known cases of a transitioning person becoming pregnant in Britain, and official figures show 775,000 women give birth there every year, the BMA insists doctors should drop the word ‘mother’ when referring to pregnancy to avoid offending transgender people to ‘celebrate diversity’.

The contentious call is made in a 14-page booklet called A Guide To Effective Communication: Inclusive Language In The Workplace. It says: ‘A large majority of people that have been pregnant or have given birth identify as women. However, there are some intersex men and trans men who may get pregnant. We can include intersex men and trans men who may get pregnant by saying “pregnant people” instead of “expectant mothers”.’

But last night women’s campaigner Laura Perrins criticised the advice as ‘antiscience, anti-women and anti-mother’.

She said: ‘As every doctor knows only females can have children. To say otherwise is offensive and dangerous. This will offend women and is an example of the majority of women being insulted for a tiny minority of people.’

The guide also tells doctors they should not use the terms ‘born man’ or ‘born woman’ in relation to trans people, as these phrases ‘are reductive and over-simplify a complex subject’. Neither should they say ‘biologically male’ or ‘biologically female’, for the same reasons. Instead, they should use say the individual was ‘assigned’ or ‘designated’ male or female at birth.