Surrounded by women of her state, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders last week signed an executive order prohibiting the use of “woke, anti-women” words and phrases in official state business, including “pregnant person,” “chestfeeding,” and “menstruating person.”
“It’s the left that decided that ‘woman’ is a dirty word,” Sanders, a Republican, said at the signing ceremony, according to National Review. “It’s the left that decided we needed basic biology and basic grammar along with it.”
The executive order declares, “Women are women” and says, “There are things only women can do, like perform the miracle of birth”
“An XX chromosome is an XX chromosome. The science is clear and real,” it says. “... Government should reject language that ignores, undermines, and erases women. … Government should celebrate gender distinctions between men and women -- not erase them.”
The key line of the order states: “It is the policy of this administration to prohibit the use of woke, anti-women words for official state government business.”
“All state offices, departments, boards, and commissions are prohibited from using exclusionary, sexist language in official state government business, effective immediately,” it says.
The order then lists a series of words and phrases that are banned:
-- “Rather than ‘pregnant people’ or ‘pregnant person,’ use ‘pregnant women’ or ‘pregnant mom.’
-- “Rather than ‘chestfeeding,’ use ‘breastfeeding.’
-- “Rather than ‘body fed’ or ‘person fed,’ use ‘breastfed.’
-- “Rather than ‘human milk,’ use ‘breast milk.’
-- “Rather than ‘birthing person,’ use ‘birth mom.’
-- “Rather than ‘laboring person,’ use ‘birth mom.’
-- “Rather than ‘menstruating person’ or ‘menstruating people,’ use ‘woman’ or ‘women.’
-- “Rather than ‘birth-giver,’ use ‘woman.’
-- “Rather than ‘womxn’ or ‘womyn,’ use ‘woman.’”
“We are all here to say, frankly, that we’ve had enough,” Sanders said. “Enough trying to erase women and girls, enough denying our biological differences from men, and enough of the craziness that is taking over our country.”
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Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
