Sen. Hawley Grills Senate Witness: “Can Men Get Pregnant?
Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley asked a witness what should have been a simple question during a committee hearing this week. Dr. Nisha Verma, an abortion provider, testified at a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee about chemical abortions.
“Do you think that men can get pregnant?” Hawley asked.
“I mean, I do take care of patients with different identities,” she replied. “I take care of many women. I take care of people with different identities. And so that’s where I paused. I think, yeah, I wasn’t sure where you were going with that.”
Hawley noted that clear thinking about the basic definitions of biological sex is profoundly important, especially in light of the U.S. Supreme Court hearing two cases related to banning male athletes from competing in girls’ sports.
“This is about science and evidence, and I’m asking you,” he said. “The United States Supreme Court just heard arguments yesterday at great length on this question. This is not a hypothetical question. This is not theoretical. It affects real people in their real lives, and you’re here as an expert, and you’ve been telling us that you’re a doctor and you follow the science and the evidence.
“So, I just want to know, based on the science, can men get pregnant? That’s a yes-or- no question.”
Verma continued to refuse to answer the question, claiming Hawley’s line of questioning was attempting to politicize the issue while trying to reduce its “complexity.” Hawley later rebuked Verma for a worldview that he implied is based on a lie.
“It is not polarizing to say that there is a scientific difference between men and women, and I want this to be clear and for the record,” he said. “It is not polarizing to say that women are a biological reality and should be treated and protected as such.”
Hawley accused Verma of advancing “a political agenda that has been thoroughly discredited and rejected by the American people,” calling their conversation “exceptionally clarifying” and “also, in many ways, quite depressing.”
–Alan Goforth
