The government wants the term 'pregnant women' to go

The government has asked the UN to remove the term ‘pregnant women’ from an important part of the International Bill of Human Rights.

A statement given to the UN is asking for any mention of pregnancy in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to remove the word ‘woman’ in order to be more inclusive of transgender people.

It states that the current ‘pregnant woman’ term could “exclude transgender people who have given birth”, suggesting the UN use the term ‘pregnant people’ instead. Especially when it comes to mention of the death penalty.

“We requested that the UN human rights committee made it clear that the same right [to life for pregnant women] extends to pregnant transgender people,” a spokesperson for the UK’s Foreign Office said.

The decision has been criticised by several feminists with writer Sarah Ditum saying in The Times: “This isn’t inclusion. This is making women unmentionable. Having a female body and knowing what that means for reproduction doesn’t make you ‘exclusionary’.

“Forcing us to decorously scrub out any reference to our sex on pain of being called bigots is an insult.”

Other people agreed, saying it’s political correctness gone mad. “Someone give Theresa May a science textbook: only women can get pregnant – anything else is daft nonsense,” tweeted one UKIP MP.

“What a complete load of b*****ks. Only women can give birth. This nonsense has gone on far enough, I except same sex relationships but trying to neutralise nature is crazy,” commented another person.

Another simply said: “This is the nonsense we pay billions for at the UN?”

The Foreign Office responded with another statement, adding: “The UK does not object to the use of the term “pregnant woman”. We strongly support the right to life of pregnant women.”

There have only ever been two examples of transgender people who consider themselves to be men giving birth in the UK.

23-year-old Scott Parker was the first to give birth in April this year after living as a man for two years. He put his transition on hold after accidentally falling pregnant following a one-night stand.

21-year-old Hayden Cross was the next transgender man to have a child in June, three years after legally being declared as male.

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for non-stop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. For Twitter updates, follow @YahooStyleUK.

Read more from Yahoo Style UK:

The inspiring reason transgender man shares images of his taped back breasts online

Secondary school bans skirts in favour of gender neutral uniform

Non-binary artist free bleeds in public to show world periods aren’t just for women