Wisconsin Democratic governor proposes replacing 'mother' with 'inseminated person' in state law
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, is facing backlash for introducing a budget recommendation that changes the word "mother" to "inseminated person," and "paternity" to "parentage" in certain parts of state law.
The Evers administration's budget recommendation for the 2025-2027 fiscal period advises several other gendered terms be changed, as well. References to "wife" or "husband" are changed to "spouse" in the proposal. In other places, the word "father" is changed to "parent," and "mother" is swapped out for the phrase "parent who gave birth to the child."
The budget was introduced by the state Senate's Joint Committe on Finance on Tuesday.
Wisconsin radio host Dan O'Donnell noted the language change in a post on X, calling it "beyond parody." Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, commented on the post, writing simply "red flag!"
The Republican Governors Association (RGA) issued a statement in response to the language changes.
Evers' "latest left-wing push" is "offensive to mothers," RGA executive director Sara Craig said in a statement. "Being a mother is the greatest privilege I will have in my lifetime, and every mother I know feels the same. If Tony Evers can reduce motherhood to an 'inseminated person' then our society is lost."
When introducing the budget proposal, Evers said his plan would eliminate income tax on tips, prevent homeowners from seeing property tax increases and improve the state's infrastructure, among other things. However, he made no mention of the language in the bill.
The cultural battle over gendered language has raged for the last few years with debates over the use of terms like "chestfeeding" instead of "breastfeeding" or "birthing person" instead of "mother."
On his first day back in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump attacked the issue head-on with an executive order called "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government."
In the order, President Trump makes it official government policy "to recognize two sexes, male and female," saying they are "not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality." The order also explicitly states that "'sex' is not a synonym for and does not include the concept of 'gender ideology.'"
Earlier this month, Trump issued another order on gender ideology called "Keeping Men out of Women's Sports." The order is designed to prevent transgender athletes from competing against women.
On Friday, during an event at the White House, the president had a heated exchange with Gov. Janet Mills, D-Me., in which he threatened to pull federal funding if the state does not comply with his order. The exchange ended with both saying they would see the other in court over the issue.
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Fox News Digital reached out to Evers' office for comment.
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