West Virginia lawmakers on Monday introduced a bill that bans “woke words” and agendas from state government content, citing concerns about the terms being “sexist” and “exclusionary.”
The changes, which center around “accurate, female-affirming alternatives,” would restrict wording used in state government documents, websites, literature and in-person, according to legislators.
Specific terms included in the bill include using “pregnant women” instead of “pregnant people,” using “woman” instead of “womxn or womyn,” and using “woman” instead of “birth-giver.”
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The phrases were designed for gender inclusivity, as some people do not identify with their biological anatomy.
Other wording changes noted in the bill relate to breastfeeding and other pregnancy-related topics.
Legislators suggested using “breastfeeding” as opposed to “chestfeeding,” “breast fed” as opposed to “body fed” or “person fed,” and “breast milk” instead of “human milk.”
While supporters claim the gender-neutral terminology can “streamline” communication about various topics, critics allege the wording is “made up” and can lead to confusion.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2023 posted advice on its website for transgender and non-binary people wishing to “chestfeed” their children.
Portions of the guidance detailed instructions for those who had breasts removed in gender-reassignment surgery or for biological men taking hormones to grow breasts on how to feed their newborns.
Several doctors criticized the information, claiming the CDC failed to gauge the risks posed to children drinking milk produced by chemicals used in gender-reassignment medical operations.
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House Bill 2406, which is sponsored by 11 delegates, would take effect on June 1.
On Feb. 7, CDC researchers were told to remove words frequently associated with gender ideology from research manuscripts that they intend to publish.
A screenshot of a leaked internal email sent out to CDC staff, obtained by the newsletter Inside Medicine, showed a list of terms and phrases that must be removed from scientific manuscripts produced by the agency’s researchers and intended for publication.
Those terms included: “gender,” “transgender,” “pregnant person,” “pregnant people,” “LGBT,” “transsexual,” “non-binary,” “nonbinary,” “assigned male at birth,” “assigned female at birth,” “biologically male” and “biologically female.” According to the Washington Post, the list includes about 20 terms. They indicated that the directive also ordered the removal of any use of “they/them.”
West Virginia University is the latest education institution to curb its diversity, equity and inclusion office due to reverse-discrimination claims.
The delegates did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Fox News Digital’s Gabriel Hays and Charles Creitz contributed to this report.
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