In addition to costing taxpayers $6 trillion, President Joe Biden’s 2022 budget proposal insults women all across the country by replacing the term “mother” with “birthing people.”
“The United States has the highest maternal mortality rate among developed nations, with an unacceptably high mortality rate for Black, American Indian/Alaska Native, and other women of color,” according to the budget plan. After using the terms “maternal” and “women of color,” the plan suddenly switches to gender-neutral terminology.
Biden’s proposal seeks over $200 million in funding “to help end this high rate of maternal mortality and race-based disparities in outcomes among birthing people.”
The phrase “birthing people” previously drew controversy in May when it was used during a House Oversight Committee hearing on black maternal health. Some Twitter respondents argued the term reduced women to nothing more than baby-makers. Others questioned if Mother’s Day will soon no longer exist.
📢 Chair @RepMaloney was clear: Health equity for Black birthing people is attainable.
WATCH as she opens @OversightDems' landmark hearing on the #BlackMaternalHealth crisis to address the racial disparities that hold Black birthing people from the health equity they deserve. pic.twitter.com/nwg5kkmkZP
— Oversight Committee Democrats (@OversightDems) May 6, 2021
The National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League responded that the term “birthing people” is a way to include everyone, because “it’s not just cis-gender women that can get pregnant and give birth.”
When we talk about birthing people, we're being inclusive. It's that simple.
We use gender neutral language when talking about pregnancy, because it's not just cis-gender women that can get pregnant and give birth. Reproductive freedom is for *every* body. https://t.co/9E9qKRMJTu
— NARAL (@NARAL) May 6, 2021
The simultaneous use of “birthing people” in parts of the budget but use of “maternal,” “girls,” “female,” and “women,” elsewhere shows that even the president can’t keep up with the left’s gender terminology, or lack there-of. Just like swapping out the term “breastfeeding for “chestfeeding,” the left’s terminology is not just about eradicating certain words but eventually eradicating the uniqueness of a mother’s experience.
For mothers across the country, Biden’s message is clear: you’re no longer a woman, you’re a “birthing person.”
