A THIRD of hospitals now use woke terms like ‘pregnant people’ instead of mothers in fear of upsetting transgender campaigners
- 120 NHS organisation seemed reluctant to say ‘women’ or ‘mothers’, MoS found
- Term ‘service users’ used in a bid to be ‘inclusive’ and not to upset trans activists
- 1.3 million women gave birth in two years and fewer than 50 did not id as such
A third of NHS hospitals are now using woke phrases like ‘pregnant people’ and ‘service users’ to describe their maternity patients, an investigation by The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Dozens of hospital trusts have adopted such ‘inclusive’ language in fear of upsetting transgender campaigners – and more are likely to follow suit.
Our survey of more than 120 NHS organisations found that hospitals appear increasingly reluctant to use the word ‘women’ or ‘mothers’, removing the terms from websites and other communications. Some have bizarrely started referring to pregnant women as ‘service users’.
Yet our findings suggest that of the 1.3 million women who gave birth in England in the past two years, fewer than 50 did not identify as such.
Our survey of more than 120 NHS organisations found that hospitals appear increasingly reluctant to use the word ‘women’ or ‘mothers’, removing the terms from websites and other communications. Some have bizarrely started referring to pregnant women as ‘service users’
Dozens of hospital trusts have adopted such ‘inclusive’ language in fear of upsetting transgender campaigners – and more are likely to follow suit (stock image)
This paper sent Freedom of Information requests to 124 NHS hospital trusts in England which run maternity units to find out just how pervasive trans-inclusive terminology pushed by controversial charities such as Stonewall and Mermaids has become.
We found that 42 of the trusts – 34 per cent – have adopted what they describe as ‘additive’ terms like ‘birthing people’ for maternity patients. Just 29 trusts said they only use the word ‘women’ or ‘mother’ to talk about pregnancy. Fifteen others were considering introducing language such as ‘pregnant people’.
Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals in Surrey said: ‘The Trust currently uses the phrase “women and birthing people” ’. It explained: ‘The Trust seeks to be as inclusive and representative as possible of all the people that use its service.’
But it could not say if a single one of the 8,000 or so people it has helped give birth since April 2020 identified as anything but female.
Liverpool Women’s said while it has ‘always referred to women in our documentation as part of our inclusive language’ there has been ‘a transition from 2019 to [using the] more fully inclusive language of pregnant people in line with national direction in maternity services’. Yet the trust said it had not recorded a single transgender patient giving birth there out of 17,000 women since April 2020.
Last night, Maya Forstater, executive director of campaigning group Sex Matters, said: ‘Birth is an exclusively female activity.
‘In the birthing room, midwives can be sympathetic and responsive to individuals in all kinds of unusual situations, but this is not a reason to change NHS language and policies for everyone.’
Several trusts have put maternity information into the second person, using expressions like ‘your pregnancy’ to avoid the word ‘women’.
Southampton hospitals have started doing this ‘to make sure we are being inclusive of everyone and for that reason, use of the words “woman/women” has been replaced with “you” ’.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman said: ‘We are clear that biology matters and there are different health needs between the sexes.
‘It’s important that NHS guidance, while being inclusive, should use clear terms that people can understand and are specific about who can be affected by conditions and how they will be treated.’
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