A growing number of abortion rights advocates have shifted from calling the procedure a “women’s rights” issue to favor more gender-neutral terminology, a move that could alienate moderate Democrats.
The abortion rights movement’s lexicon has changed to incorporate terms such as “pregnant people” and “people with a capacity for pregnancy.”
The high-profile exchange between Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and University of California, Berkeley law professor Khiara Bridges in a Tuesday hearing about abortion access underscored the move away from using the term “women” among abortion rights supporters.
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Hawley asked Bridges about her use of the term “people with a capacity for pregnancy,” asking to clarify, “Would that be women?” Bridges called his question transphobic, saying that it excluded transgender men and nonbinary people.
She said the Supreme Court’s decision last month to overturn Roe v. Wade affects cisgender women, as well as other groups.
Bridges’s response rankled conservatives.
“Now they dehumanize women by denying the existence of females (and ‘women’ as a term that applies only to females), referring instead to women by bodily functions or capacity — ‘pregnant-capable’ or ‘birthing’ — or as possessors of anatomical parts— ’vagina-havers,’” said Mary Rice Hasson, a fellow at the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center. “That kind of language is dehumanizing, but completely in character for pro-abortion/pro-choice activists.”
In a separate hearing before the Senate Health Committee last Wednesday, Dr. Jamila Taylor, the director of health care reform and a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, a progressive policy think tank, used the term “birthing people” in her opening statement before lawmakers.
In another high-profile instance, Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) used the term “birthing people” in her personal testimony before the House Oversight Committee last year. Soon after, in the Biden administration’s 2022 budget proposal, the words “mothers” and “women” were stricken and replaced with “birthing people.”
Abortion rights groups have also elbowed out terms that include “women,” choosing gender-inclusive language instead. In 2020, for instance, official NARAL guidance advised abortion activists to refer to abortion as a “woman’s choice.” Two years later, that guidance had changed to advise people to use more “gender-neutral language” instead.
Reproductive rights and transgender issues are two of the most hot-button political topics, and the change in language surrounding pregnancy has caused the two to intersect. It also comes with the risk of Democrats confusing their audience and pushing away moderates in favor of popularity among the far-left base.
The messaging issue surrounding pregnancy can be compared to a shift from using the term “illegal immigrants” to “undocumented workers,” a Democratic strategist told the Washington Examiner. It’s crucial that politicians and voters speak the same language. In an attempt to be more inclusive, the party could be sacrificing clarity, she said.
“The Democratic Party is increasingly becoming an elite, liberal, white party. And it is leaving behind working-class voters and anyone who was culturally conservative, even if they don’t consider themselves Republicans,” said Mike Shields, a Republican strategist and former chief of staff for the Republican National Committee.
Democrats have increasingly become a party of educated, upscale voters concerned primarily with social and civil rights issues such as gun control and abortion, while Republicans have an advantage among working-class voters who are most concerned about inflation and the economy. Shields suspects Republicans, who are expected to win big in November, will be able to curry favor with centrist Democrats on the fence about voting Republican.
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“This forced acceptance on voters and working-class voters who feel that they’re not being represented,” Shields said. “The Republican Party is doing a much better job of opening their arms and saying, ‘You’re being pushed away from them, you have a home here, we’re listening to you.’”
