Has the European Union decided to replace the word "mother' with the expression "the person giving birth"? No, that's not true: A European Commission proposal to create a European Certificate of Parenthood does not aim to replace the word "mother" or change the concept of motherhood in official documents. The proposal, aimed at providing legal recognition of parenthood across member states, uses the expression "the person giving birth" as a way to identify the person who carries and delivers a child. It's aimed at recognizing parenthood for all children, irrespective of how they were conceived or born, and irrespective of their type of family.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on TikTok on November 15, 2023, with the caption (translated from Bulgarian to English by Lead Stories staff):
Will we allow that, Bulgarian mothers?
The European Parliament decided that there will no longer be a 'mother', but 'the person who gave birth to the child'.
We are members of this EU, conceived with the idea of an economic union between sovereign states but turned into a dictator, including in terms of moral principles and norms. I had a mother. I am a mother. I will never, at any cost, accept such postulates, hypocritically packaged as manifestations of freedom, tolerance and equality.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed Nov 22 20:57:15 2023 UTC)
Social media posts and websites in Bulgaria have been sharing the false claim that the European Commission has decided that the word "mother" should be replaced by the expression "the person giving birth." They include this example from a social media post on Facebook on November 11, 2023, with the following caption:
The EU removed the word 'MOTHER'. ... Instead, we need to use 'the person who gave birth to the child'. 'The Legal Committee of the European Parliament has approved the decision of the European Commission to preclude the usage of the word 'mother' in official documents.
The European Commission proposed a regulation on the recognition of parenthood and the creation of a European Certificate of Parenthood that was adopted by the Commission on December 7, 2022, and is currently under review by the Council of the European Union.
The EU Commission claims that the objective of the proposal is to protect the rights of children in cross-border situations within the EU, provide legal certainty of the parenthood of children, and recognition of the parenthood of all children, irrespective of how they were conceived or born, and irrespective of their family type.
The proposal before the EU Council uses the expression "the person giving birth" to be inclusive and respectful of different types of families and ways of conceiving or giving birth to a child. For example, the document covers the parenthood of children with same-sex parents, children adopted domestically in a member state, children conceived with assisted reproductive technology and the use of surrogate mothers to give birth. In cases where the person who gives birth to the child is not identified as the mother, or may not be the legal parent of the child, the proposal avoids the term "mother" and uses "the person giving birth" to refer to the person who carries and delivers the child.
A Lead Stories fact check about a Bulgarian minister who does not plan to enforce gender neutrality policies and ban the words "Mom" and "Dad" can be found here.
