'Pregnant people'

Also, @Mouldemort, please stop pretending that it's 12 year old girls you're championing here. If that truly were so, you would understand that 12 year old girls don't want to share their school toilets and changing rooms with boys. Particularly if they have been the victims of abuse or violence, as so many 12 year old girls sadly have.

But then, you believe that we shouldn't refer to 12 year old victims of rape who become pregnant as a result as female, for fear of not being inclusive enough.

It's absolutely clear that it's not 12 year old girls that you're concerned about. Crystal clear.

Well that’s single sex sport scuppered. Somebody needs to tell the various sporting bodies that ‘woman’ and ‘man’ can only refer to a competitor of 18 or over, so if they want to allow younger competitors all events must be mixed and simply refer to ‘people’.

Its the only way.

are you really suggesting this language has been introduced to spare the feelings of twelve year olds, @Mouldemort ? Because if so, what do you think about terms like “people with a cervix”? Likely to help a twelve year old girl, or totally alienate her?

We all know that only females give birth (even you know this Mouldy love, be honest). So the umbrella term 'pregnant women' for all pregnant females works just fine.

Even if you are referring to a pregnant child, it's understood that the child in question is female. Because, yep, only females get pregnant. We don't need to refer to her as a 'pregnant person', and neither should we. A child who is pregnant is very likely the victim of sexual violence and her experience is absolutely a consequence of being female. So to desex her is to diminish that experience of violence.

And I can tell you now, Mouldy, that all women are sick to death of having their experiences of violence diminished in order to make men more comfortable. Whatever our age - or the age we were when the violence occurred.

No, People refer to human beings of any sex. It is not limited to one sex.
FEMALES are the only sex that can become pregnant

Pregnant women or pregnant girl should be used.

What are you imagining?, an antenatal group where a 12 year old only feels excluded because they use the word ‘woman’? You don’t think the more isolating factor might be that it is very possible that she is a victim of rape?

Again, there is a difference between the definition of adulthood that refers to puberty and legal and social definitions of adulthood. The concept of ‘geriatric mothers’ has been explained to you at least twice, but you seem very fixated on 12 year old girls for some reason.

And to think, in Mouldyworld (which sounds like the shittest theme park ever btw) it's us 'tying ourselves in knots' 😂

Great - wonderful - we are nearly there. You acknowledge she's a girl, not a woman. So, "pregnant women" doesn't cover all people who can get pregnant, whereas pregnant people does.

I wonder if Mouldy realises the end point of his logic is that Women's toilets, changing rooms or anything else must be excluding young girls? Hilarious. In upside-downy Mouldyworld, adult men can be included in Women's spaces but female children can't. 😂

Not just to my mind, I think you'll find.

Yes, a 12 year old is a child. But if she is pregnant, she has reached sexual maturity and is, for the purpose of her medical care, a woman, albeit a young woman. One who is experiencing adolescent gravida, as explained to you. Ergo, no need to call her a 'pregnant person'. We have a term already used widely by clinicians in such circumstances, as also explained previously.

Why are you so upset by the use of medical terms regarding pregnancy on a thread about pregnancy on a parenting forum? I'd imagine it's not unexpected to find such terms here? Particularly when the thread is about terms used for pregnant women. Which tend to be, y'know, a bit medical.

And there's absolutely no need to tie myself up in knots - it's not me who is doing mental gymnastics in an attempt to validate something which really isn't a thing.

@Mouldemort “A 12 year old who is pregnant is not a pregnant women, she's a pregnant child. Or, if you prefer, a pregnant person.”

She is a pregnant girl.

Whoosh and tbe point goes over your head.

Do you think a pregnant 12 year old girl is being somehow excluded by literature and communication that refers to women? Do you not think her situation is rather more serious than that? Do you think her situation is somehow improved by language that suggests that pregnancy could happen to anyone?

To be clear, any person who can get pregnant is to your mind a woman, and that a woman is therefore not an adult human female? Some twelve year old girls are woman? No, absolutely not. They are children.

A 12 year old who is pregnant is not a pregnant women, she's a pregnant child. Or, if you prefer, a pregnant person. You are simply arguing this wild position because you are gender critical.

Then you swerve into medical terms, when that's not what's under discussion at all. You are tying yourself in knots.

Nobody suggested a girl becomes a woman by becoming pregnant. Nobody. People did correctly say that only women and girls can become pregnant. There's a difference. Obviously.

A female who has reached the level of physical maturity required to get pregnant is, by definition, a woman. A young woman, certainly, but by medical definition a woman nonetheless. In the same way as a woman over 35 who is pregnant is regarded as having a 'geriatric' pregnancy, even though she is evidently not geriatric.

In medical terms, on records and in notes, a pregnant 15 year old would be referred to as female, and as experiencing adolescent gravida. No need to refer to her as a 'pregnant person' simply because she's 15 - a medical term already exists for her situation. We don't need another one.

Correct medical terms matter.

@Mouldemort "Pregnant people" covers both categories.

People refer to human beings of any sex. It is not limited to one sex.

FEMALES are the only sex that can become pregnant!

The term "expectant mother" was used historically as a polite, indirect way to acknowledge a pregnancy while avoiding the word "pregnant," which was considered crude or overly associated with sexual activity in conservative eras like the Victorian period.

I never knew that, although it doesn't surprise me. But I was perfectly happy to be called an expectant mother - a million times better than a pregnant person, a birther, a chest feeder... Ugh.

If you are female and pregnant....

If you are pregnant...

Pregnant women and girls....

All are infinitely better than using an umbrella term to refer to 50% of the population who are the only part of the population who can get pregnant.

It's why we don't say people in healthcare if we mean black people or children, for example - even those these groups are people. If there is something that only affects one particular group then we need to use the specific, correct terms.

The post was perfectly clear about the difference between going through puberty and being recognised as an adult in 2026 by law and society, so your apparent confusion can only be deliberate.

It's normal to call a 16 or 17 year old a young woman and younger girls need specific care, so your problem can only be the acknowledgement that pregnancy is sex specific.

We know exactly who is going to need support if unprotected teenage sex results in a pregnancy, and it isn't 'people'.

Girls are not women. If you think a girl becomes a women by becoming pregnant, wow, you are no feminist. "Pregnant women" excludes anyone who isn't an adult. "Pregnant people" covers both categories. Unless you are saying woman no longer means adult human female. of course.

Thank you so very much. Wishing your SIL all the best with her journey to motherhood 🩷 ✨

Congratulations on being a pregnant woman and mother to your unborn baby!
I'm sorry you had a hard time getting here. My SIL is going through it now and it sounds absolutely agonising 💐

The term "expectant mother" was used historically as a polite, indirect way to acknowledge a pregnancy while avoiding the word "pregnant," which was considered crude or overly associated with sexual activity in conservative eras like the Victorian period.

Or an expectant mother!

Completely agree, and thank you! 😊

Language matters, but not as much as the risk of upsetting some men!

Congratulations on being a pregnant woman!