In a case of political correctness run amok, the British Medical Association advises physicians to drop the word "mother" from their vocabularies, claiming that the word may be deemed offensive to transgendered individuals. According to the UK's Daily Mail, this warning to medical professionals appears in the BMA's 14-page booklet entitled "Guide to Effective Communication." The guidelines, issued to the 160,000 members of the BMA, instruct doctors to refer to expectant mothers as "pregnant people."
The new BMA guidelines state: "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'."
Britain's first pregnant male
Although 775,000 births take place in Britain each year, there are no known cases of a transgendered person becoming pregnant. At least not yet. The BMA's new guidelines come in response to a situation involving Britain's first pregnant male. Hayden Cross, a 20-year-old legal male who was born female, is presently four months pregnant. Cross has had hormone treatments, but not gender reassignment surgery. The surgery had been put on hold until after Cross gives birth.
Liberals and conservatives alike think this is crazy
The BMA's ban has drawn criticism from conservatives and liberals alike. Laura Perrins, a women's rights activist, bashed the BMA's decree as being "anti-science, anti-women and anti-mother." According to the Daily Mail, Perrins believes that women all across the UK will be offended by this new rule, and she cites the BMA's actions as an example of insulting a majority for the sake of not offending a "tiny" minority.
Perrins' sentiments are echoed by Philip Davies, a conservative parliament member, who said to the Daily Mail, "If you can’t call a pregnant woman an expectant mother, then what is the world coming to?"
Even the Catholic church has weighed in on the matter. The Bishop of Portsmouth (Philip Egan) warned that this new rule will lead to confusion, and referred to the MBA's mandate as an "Orwellian" attempt to regulate speech.
