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Why The Term ‘Woman’ Remains Vital In Women’s Healthcare

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<p><&excl;-- BEGIN THEIA POST SLIDER --><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p> <br &sol;>&NewLine;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">It is a testament to the rampant wildfire that is political correctness&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;International Non-Binary People’s Day&period;” Yes&comma; that is a thing&period; Since 2012&comma; this day lands on the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;PC calendar” as July 14th&period; <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">As a medical professional&comma; I must point out an obvious&comma; if inconvenient&comma; conflict&colon; Human beings are sexually dimorphic — biologically male or female — with rare genetic or anatomic conditions being an exception &lpar;e&period;g&period;&comma; <&sol;span><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;my&period;clevelandclinic&period;org&sol;health&sol;diseases&sol;swyer-syndrome" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener"><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">Swyer Syndrome<&sol;span><&sol;a><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">&comma;<&sol;span><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;my&period;clevelandclinic&period;org&sol;health&sol;diseases&sol;22199-androgen-insensitivity-syndrome" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener"> <span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome<&sol;span><&sol;a><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">&rpar;&period; By elevating subjective feelings on gender above objective sex differences&comma; this day reflects the broader cultural shift that values political correctness over biological facts&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">Plus&comma; through this PC lens&comma; girls who are gender-nonconforming are encouraged to identify as non-binary or male&semi; they are told that their personality is incompatible with being female&period; That is wrong&period; In an attempt to expand &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;inclusion&comma;” we are slowly erasing womanhood&period; This is evident most in the propagation of gender-neutral language that has gotten out of hand&period; <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">As a board-certified OB&sol;GYN physician&comma; I am&comma; by definition&comma; a women’s healthcare specialist&period; Read that again&comma; slowly&colon; <&sol;span><i><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">women’s <&sol;span><&sol;i><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">healthcare specialist&period; <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">More importantly&comma; I am the father of two intelligent&comma; compassionate&comma; and talented young women&period; Notice I didn’t say &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;menstruating people&comma;” &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;people with a uterus&comma;” or any other fashionable euphemisms&period; <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">And in that pursuit&comma; medicine — the field entrusted with science&comma; truth&comma; and care — is making a critical&comma; potentially devastating mistake&colon; <&sol;span><i><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">erasing women&period;<&sol;span><&sol;i><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400"> <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">Gender-neutral language has become trendy in media&comma; education&comma; public policy&comma; and now in medicine&period; The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists &lpar;<&sol;span><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;acog&period;org&sol;clinical-information&sol;policy-and-position-statements&sol;statements-of-policy&sol;2022&sol;inclusive-language&percnt;20Inclusive&percnt;20Language&percnt;20&percnt;7C&percnt;20ACOG" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener"><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">ACOG<&sol;span><&sol;a><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">&rpar;&comma; for example&comma; states it &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;will move beyond the exclusive use of gendered language and definitions&period;” The American Society of Reproductive Medicine &lpar;<&sol;span><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;asrm&period;org&sol;practice-guidance&sol;practice-committee-documents&sol;inclusive-language-and-environment-to-welcome-lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender-queer-questioning-intersex-and-asexual-patients&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener"><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">ASRM<&sol;span><&sol;a><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">&rpar; offers similar guidance&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">Ironically&comma; when language avoids or replaces the word &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;woman&comma;” especially in contexts centered on <&sol;span><i><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">women’s lived experiences<&sol;span><&sol;i><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400"> — pregnancy&comma; motherhood&comma; menstruation — it ceases to be inclusive&period; It becomes erasure&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">This is biologically inaccurate&comma; linguistically confusing&comma; and ethically wrong&period; It must stop&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">Terms like &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;pregnant people&comma;”  &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;birthing people”&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;menstruators&comma;” and &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;chestfeeders” are billed as inclusive&period; But they send a quieter&comma; more harmful message&colon; that &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;woman” is a word too controversial or exclusive to use&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">This reframes womanhood as something to dilute in order to accommodate others — when in reality&comma; specificity and inclusion are not mutually exclusive&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">This matters not just symbolically&comma; but materially&period; Women’s health has long been under-researched and underfunded&period; When language becomes so neutral that it no longer identifies women as the primary subjects of reproductive care&comma; advocacy efforts lose their power&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">If it’s now politically incorrect to say &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;maternal mortality disproportionately affects Black women&comma;” and we must instead say &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;birthing people&comma;” we obscure the social and biological realities that demand urgent attention&period; Precision in language is not exclusion&period; It is clarity&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">Ironically&comma; this expansion of gender-neutral language is profoundly anti-woman&period; A movement that can’t say the word &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;woman” cannot fully fight for women&period; <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">Think this is just one disgruntled OB&sol;GYN’s opinion&quest; Think again&period; <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;jkrowling&period;com&sol;opinions&sol;j-k-rowling-writes-about-her-reasons-for-speaking-out-on-sex-and-gender-issues&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener"><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">J&period;K&period; Rowling<&sol;span><&sol;a><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400"> — a woman and lifelong advocate for women’s rights — was globally vilified for opposing terms like &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;people who menstruate&period;” <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">And just this month &lpar;June 2025&rpar;&comma; a peer-reviewed paper in <&sol;span><i><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">Sexual and Reproductive Health<&sol;span><&sol;i><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400"> warned that &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;desexed” language is confusing&comma; alienating&comma; and potentially harmful — even to the very populations it intends to help&period; <&sol;span><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">As those authors write&colon;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p><i><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">Desexed language is likely to have an adverse impact on people with low health literacy and language skills&comma; risk alienation&comma; and cause confusion… It may even cause harm to transgender and gender-diverse people who also need clear health communications&period;<&sol;span><&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">Similar sentiment has been stated by <&sol;span><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;ohchr&period;org&sol;en&sol;special-procedures&sol;sr-violence-against-women" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener"><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">Reem Alsalem<&sol;span><&sol;a><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">&comma; a Jordanian independent consultant and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls&period; Alsalem stated&colon;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p><em><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">Erasing women and women-specific language and needs based on their sex is not only wrong&comma; but also demeaning&comma; regressive and constitutes one of the worst forms of violence that women and girls can experience&period;<&sol;span><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">Even the <&sol;span><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;whitehouse&period;gov&sol;presidential-actions&sol;2025&sol;01&sol;defending-women-from-gender-ideology-extremism-and-restoring-biological-truth-to-the-federal-government&sol;&percnt;20Defending&percnt;20Women&percnt;20From&percnt;20Gender&percnt;20Ideology&percnt;20Extremism&percnt;20And&percnt;20Restoring&percnt;20Biological&percnt;20Truth&percnt;20To&percnt;20The&percnt;20Federal&percnt;20Government&percnt;20&percnt;E2&percnt;80&percnt;93&percnt;20The&percnt;20White&percnt;20House" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener"><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">U&period;S&period; government<&sol;span><&sol;a><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400"> recently declared&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;It is the policy of the United States to use clear and accurate language that recognizes women are biologically female and men are biologically male&period;”<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">Similarly&comma;<&sol;span> my home state of <span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">Texas recently<&sol;span><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400"> <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;txvalues&period;org&sol;breaking-texas-senate-passes-womens-bill-of-rights&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">passed legislation<&sol;a> that defines man and woman based on biological reality&period; This is not &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;anti-trans&period;” It is pro-woman&period; Pro-girl&period; Pro-truth&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">Yes&comma; there is fresh momentum on protecting women and women’s rights&period; This is good news&period; On July 1&comma; 2025&comma; for example&comma; the <&sol;span><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;thehill&period;com&sol;homenews&sol;lgbtq&sol;5380157-penn-trans-women-sports-upenn-trump-mcmahon-lia-thomas-ncaa-title-ix&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener"><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">University of Pennsylvania<&sol;span><&sol;a><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400"> — which was found in violation of Title IX regulations — agreed to restrict trans athletes from participating in women’s sports&period; That is a win for women’s sports everywhere&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">In the effort to include everyone&comma; let’s not lose sight of the people who fought longest and hardest to be heard&colon; women&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">Say the word&period; Use the word&period; Because avoiding it doesn’t create justice — it creates silence&period; And silence has never been a friend to women&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ast; &ast; &ast;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">Hector Chapa&comma; M&period;D&period;&comma; F&period;A&period;C&period;O&period;G&period;&comma; <&sol;span><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">is a nationally and internationally recognized physician scientist in the field of Obstetrics and Gynecology&period; He is a graduate of UT Southwestern Medical School with specialty training at Parkland Hospital&period; He is a Board-Certified Obstetrician &amp&semi; Gynecologist and serves as clinical associate professor at Texas A&amp&semi;M College of Medicine in Bryan-College Station&comma; Texas&period; Since 2016&comma; he has served as the OBGYN Clerkship Director &lpar;BCS Campus&rpar;&period; In 2018&comma; he became director of interprofessional education&period;<&sol;span><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon;400">The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire&period;<&sol;span><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div id&equals;"payed-article-paywall"><img alt&equals;"Create Free Account" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;dailywireplus-v2&period;imgix&period;net&sol;hostimages1&sol;Frame&percnt;201010105171&period;png"&sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Continue reading this exclusive article and join the conversation&comma; 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