The reproductive rights of pregnant people: Abortion attitudes and gender-inclusive language

Abstract

Debate over abortion care in the US has intensified since the June 2022 Supreme Court decision that curtailed abortion rights. Concurrently, Americans are divided over the legitimacy of gender identities other than woman and man. These two issues have coincided in calls for gender-inclusive language such as “pregnant person” when discussing reproductive issues. I examined whether abortion attitudes are affected by such gender-inclusive language. US respondents (N = 996) reported their support for abortion on items referring to pregnant women, pregnant persons, or mothers, completed measures of sexism, and wrote about what they believed “pregnant person” means. Lower support for abortion was associated with greater endorsement of sexism, with minor variation in the strength of this association across the three item wording conditions. Participants who interpreted “pregnant person” to represent efforts to be inclusive of diverse genders endorsed higher support for abortion and lower sexism, whereas participants who believed “pregnant person” represents ideologically biased “woke” language endorsed lower support for abortion and greater sexism. These findings suggest that institutions that have adopted gender-inclusive language such as “pregnant person” should understand that some audiences may interpret it negatively, with potential ramifications for health policy attitudes.