‘Gender ideology’ claims over NSW Greens push to remove women from laws

An attempt to scrub the word ‘women’ and replace it with ‘pregnant person’ in new legislation in NSW has met criticism.

The NSW Greens have attempted to delete the word “woman” 23 times from new laws protecting unborn babies — sparking outrage at what has been described as a “campaign to erase” the gender.

The attempted amendments were eventually shot down but feminists have raised concerns about an ongoing “war” against women by the left-wing political party, saying they were “destroying the rights of women”.

Even grassroots Greens feminist members say they are now reconsidering their membership as a result.

In the final sitting days of the NSW parliament, Greens MP Abigail Boyd tried to amend the Crimes Legislation Amendment Loss of Foetus Bill by axing every reference to a “woman” and substituting it with “pregnant person”.

“There are people other than women who have the potential to have a foetus,” she said.

“The amendment seeks to change ‘woman’ to ‘person’ throughout the Bill in recognition of trans and other people who have the capacity to become pregnant.”

Greens Upper House MP Abigail Boyd. Picture: AAP/Sue Graham

She told parliament she had thought an agreement had been already reached among MPs to remove the word “women” and “it is very disappointing to see this creeping back in again”.

Sydney lawyer Katherine Deves, co-founder of Save Women’s Sport, said the Greens had tried to silence women standing up for ­female rights.

“We should not be erasing women for a very demanding and vocal extremist minority group that want to devalue the importance of biological sex in favour of a personal belief about gender identity,” she said.

“These are issues that pertain specifically to women, to the female sex. It appears the Greens are enthralled to ­gender ideology.”

Save Women's Sport Australasia co-founder Katherine Deves. Picture: Nikki Short

Women’s Forum Australia chief executive Rachael Wong said there had been a concerted effort across the board to eliminate women in order to be “inclusive” of trans or non-binary individuals.

“But using terms like ‘pregnant person’ attempts to obscure the immutable biological reality that only women can become pregnant and give birth,” she said.

Feminist Legal Clinic Anna Kerr, herself a member of the Greens party, said she was “extremely disturbed” about the move.

“As a long-term member of the NSW Greens, I am having to reconsider my ongoing support for the party,” she said.

“Only women can be pregnant and efforts to obscure this biological reality by the NSW Greens damages more than just their credibility.

“The profitable sex-change industry is actively harming many vulnerable people, including children.”

The NSW Greens want to replace the words “pregnant women” with “pregnant person”. Picture: iStock

“I have been actively involved as a human rights lawyer in opposing the introduction of Zoe’s Law over many years and I am also a member of the NSW Greens Women’s Working Group.”

She said she was not consulted about the attempt to delete “women”.

“Despite the Greens commitment to grassroots democracy, I don’t think the general membership is aware of the extent of harm being done by extreme trans ideology because all debate on this subject is actively suppressed.”

Ms Boyd has been contacted for comment.