Ryan Bridge: What's the problem with the label 'pregnant women'?

So we have senior doctors going on strike.

We're in the midst of a global trade war - not that we're allowed to call it that anymore, Winston.

We have inflation potentially picking up again.

We have a lot going on in this country, not to mention around the world.

And yet there I was, sitting down to watch the news last night, and the second lead story was about whether women or people could get pregnant.

The fact is nobody in the story said it was solely women who get pregnant.

Casey Costello herself says nonbinary and trans people can get pregnant, too.

Which is true - they may have been born female, but they identify as something else.

The question is whether mass communications issued by Health NZ should speak of pregnant women to make things clear.

Here's the thing about it - the story I watched included exactly zero of these people who are so offended by the term pregnant women.

The midwives union preferred women.

The Government preferred women. 

Even Chris Hipkins said women was fine for mass communications.  

So, where's the problem?

If somebody identifies as a different gender, send them a personalised message tailored to their needs.  

The reason these things rile people up so much if because it reinforces this idea that you have a bunch of social scientists with agendas running around Wellington wasting time and taxpayer money coming up with this stuff.  

People, including I'm sure nonbinary people, would prefer a hospital system that has enough beds and surgeries slots available to cater for them.  

Surely, that's got to be priority number one in health?  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So we have senior doctors going on strike. We're in
the midst of a global trade war, not that Winston
will let us call it that anymore. We have inflation
potentially picking up again. We have a lot going on
in this country, not to mention around the world. Right.
But there. I was sitting down to watch the news
last night and the second lead story was about whether

(00:21):
women or people could get pregnant. Fact is, nobody in
the story said it was solely women who get pregnant.
Casey Costello herself says non binary and trans people can
get pregnant too, which is true. They may have been
born female, but they identify as something else. Now, the
question is whether mass communications issued by Health New Zealand

(00:44):
should speak of pregnant women. To make things clear, here's
the thing about it. The story I watched included exactly
zero of these people who are apparently so offended by
the term pregnant women. The Midwives Union, women, the government
preferred women. Even Chris Hopkins, when asked yesterday, said basically

(01:05):
women was fine for mass communications. So where's the problem here.
If somebody identifies as a different gender, then you personalize
the message, You tailor the message to their needs. The
reason these things rile people up so much is because
it reinforces this idea that we've got a bunch of
social scientists and bureaucrats with the genders running around Wellington

(01:28):
wasting time and tax payer money coming up with this stuff. People,
including I'm sure non binary people, would prefer a hospital
system that has enough beds and surgery slots to cater
for them. Surely that has to be the priority number
one when it comes to health. For more from Early
Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live to News Talk said

(01:51):
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