Gender Inclusivity and Exclusivity in US Hospitals’ Online Obstetrics, Labor and Delivery, and Pregnancy-Related Resources: Cross-Sectional Study
Charlie O Coward, Jennifer L Howell · 2026
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Description
Charlie O Coward and Jennifer L Howell audited how United States hospitals talk about pregnancy care on their websites, checking whether the language welcomes transgender patients or shuts them out. Coders reviewed obstetrics pages from one hundred seventy-eight hospitals spread across all fifty states during late 2025. Pages were scored for inclusive wording, pictures, symbols, and resources aimed at transgender readers.
Inclusive touches proved rare, while wording addressed to women alone or neutral second-person phrasing dominated nearly everywhere. The pattern held across regions and across university and religious ownership, though hospitals in states with stronger legal protections and university hospitals scored somewhat higher. Even welcoming pages often mixed inclusive and exclusive terms side by side. The authors argue hospitals need clear, service-level standards so mixed signals stop confusing patients choosing where to give birth.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Charlie O Coward, Jennifer L Howell |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 29798 |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |