The White House’s $6 trillion federal budget proposal uses the term “birthing people” to refer to women and mothers.
The story: The public health section in the 2022 fiscal budget begins with gender-specific terms such as  “maternal” and “women of color” but then reverts to gender-neutral language later in the paragraph to refer to “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,” the provision reads. “To help end this high rate of maternal mortality and race-based disparities in outcomes among birthing people – and in addition to the investment in maternal health included in the American Families Plan – the Budget includes more than $200 million.”
It then continues to use terms like “maternal health” and “maternal morbidity.”
https://twitter.com/declanpgarvey/status/1402015209888309250
The budget would allocate the $200 million for “implicit bias training for health care providers,” early childhood development funding, establishing state-run pregnancy medical home programs, among other things.
Critics slammed the gender-neutral language in the budget proposal.
Joe Biden’s budget uses the term “birthing people” instead of women.
This is woke, anti-science nonsense. pic.twitter.com/42atcoe11s
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 7, 2021
I remember when we used to use the phrase "the flag, motherhood, and apple pie" to signify things about which Americans were unified. It is now "an offensive symbol of white supremacy" and "birthing people." So I guess we're still good with apple pie.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) June 8, 2021
This from the Biden budget is so weird. "Maternal" throughout, "women of color," but "birthing people" in a place where the phrase is totally unnecessary — "disparities in outcomes" would be fine. Clearly someone decided a nod to gender-neutral language re: birthing was needed. pic.twitter.com/i3MP17IiS7
— Cathy Young 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@CathyYoung63) June 8, 2021
Not a first: The phrase “birthing people” sparked a backlash in May when it was used during a House Oversight Committee hearing on black maternal health.
Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) used the term “Black birthing people” in her testimony before Congress and in her tweet where she shared a clip of her speech. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) referred to “birthing people” and “pregnant person[s]” in a tweet announcing the so-called Mommies Act bill.
