Heated debate over using ‘pregnant woman’ or ‘pregnant person’ in abortion law

NewsHub 31 October 2019
Family First Comment: Yep – this is how farcical the abortion debate has got.
Green MP Jan Logie is more concerned with calling pregnant women ‘pregnant people’ than she is in allowing a baby boy or girl the right to be born.
Dear Jan – biology recap – only women can get pregnant. No exceptions.

A heated debate broke out at a select committee considering changes to abortion law, after some submitters asked for the legislation to say “pregnant person” instead of “pregnant woman”.

The Abortion Legislation Bill – which would bring abortion out of the Crimes Act and remove the need for a doctor’s approval before 20 weeks – currently uses the term “pregnant woman”.

But some submitters have asked the committee to consider replacing “pregnant woman” with “pregnant person” or “pregnant women and people” in the legislation to represent diversity.

Hera Cook, a researcher at Otago University in Wellington’s Department of Public Health, argued against the change as she presented to the Abortion Legislation Committee on Wednesday.

“We would ask the committee not to use the term “pregnant person” and that this term not be used in the legislation.”

She said it would “obliterate women’s experiences as pregnant women”.

She was followed by Jan Rivers, who describes herself as a gender-critical feminist, who told the committee she does not believe in gender identity, and “strongly” advised the MPs not to change the legislation to “pregnant person”.

“If woman is replaced with person, to me that seems to be the thin-edge of the wedge of saying that we believe that people get pregnant, and not women, and therefore people who don’t believe in gender identity start to be castigated.”
READ MORE: https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/10/heated-debate-over-using-pregnant-woman-or-pregnant-person-in-abortion-law.html