Don’t Call Pregnant Women Mothers – UK Orders Doctors To Respect Transgender Women

​NHS doctors have been told not to call pregnant women ‘expectant mothers’ because it might offend transgender people, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The astonishing warning comes 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 a girl but is changing to a man put his 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.

There are no other known cases of a transitioning person becoming pregnant in the UK, but official figures show 775,000 women give birth in Britain every year.

Despite this, the BMA insists doctors should drop the word ‘mother’ when referring to pregnancy to avoid offending transgender people and 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”.’

In an introduction to the guide on the BMA’s website, senior executive Dr Anthea Mowat wrote: ‘I would encourage you all to read and share this guide, and think about how you can apply it in your day-to-day work. This is a time where we need to come together to support and protect our colleagues and our patients.

But last night women’s campaigner Laura Perrins criticised the BMA’s advice as ‘anti-science, 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 up and down the country, and is an example of the majority of women being insulted for a tiny minority of people.’

Conservative MP Philip Davies described the guidance as ‘completely ridiculous’, adding: ‘If you can’t call a pregnant woman an expectant mother, then what is the world coming to?’

The guide also tells doctors that 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’.

There are now six main categories of gender, in terms used by a growing number of organisations in the UK supporting transgender, or trans people. At least 53 bodies use the following terms:

1 TRANSGENDER MALE Someone ‘assigned female’ at birth who ‘identifies’ as male.

2 TRANSGENDER female Someone ‘assigned male’ at birth who ‘identifies’ as female

3 INTERSEX A person whose gender at birth could not be classed as clearly male or female, often having a combination of genitalia.

4 GENDER QUEER/ GENDER NON-BINARY An umbrella term that covers any gender identity that doesn’t conform to being male or female.

5 CISGENDER Someone whose gender is the same as the sex they were born.

6 TRANSVESTITE A person who dresses in the clothing of the opposite gender, but does not want to live their lives as the opposite gender.

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