A viral Senate hearing exchange saw a doctor pressed repeatedly on whether men can get pregnant, sparking debate on biology, identity, and the role of science in medicine.




A Senate committee hearing on the safety of the abortion pill Wednesday drew widespread attention after a Republican senator and a doctor sparred over basic biology, with the witness declining to say whether men can become pregnant even though she emphasized the importance of trusting science.

The exchange in the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions involved GOP Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.) and Dr. Nisha Verma, who was invited by Democrats on the committee to support continued access to abortion pills.

A video clip of the exchange quickly went viral on social media.

“Do you think that men can get pregnant?” Hawley asked.

Verma had been asked the same question moments earlier by another senator – Ashley Moody of Florida – who didn’t press the doctor and instead moved on to questioning other witnesses. Hawley, though, continued pushing the point.

“I hesitated there because I wasn't sure where the conversation was going or what the goal was,” Verma said of her earlier response to Moody.

“I mean, I do take care of patients with different identities. I take care of many women. I take care of people with different identities,” Verma added.

“The goal is just the truth. So can men get pregnant?” Hawley asked again.

“The reason I paused there is I'm not really sure what the goal of the question is,” Verma said.

Hawley continued pressing.

“The goal is just to establish a biological reality,” he said. “You just said a moment ago that science and evidence should control, not politics. So let's just test that proposition. Can men get pregnant?”

“I take care of people with many identities,” she responded. “I take care of many women that can get pregnant.

“I do take care of people that don't identify as women that …,” she said without finishing.

At one point, Verma said that “science and evidence should guide medicine.” To that, Hawley asked her: “Do science and evidence tell us that men can get pregnant? Biological men – can they get pregnant?”

“I also think yes-no questions like this are a political tool,” Verma responded.

Hawley posted the same question to her nine times – “Can men get pregnant?” – but she dodged each time. Verma asserted that Hawley was using polarizing language. Hawley pushed back.

“I think it is extraordinary,” he said, “that we are here in this hearing about science and about women – and for the record, it's women who get pregnant, not men – we are here about the safety of women, and science that shows that this abortion drug causes adverse health events in 11 percent of cases – that's 22 times greater than the FDA label. … Yet you won't even acknowledge the basic reality that biological men don't get pregnant. There's a difference between biological men and biological women. I don't know how we can take you seriously and your claims to be a person of science if you won't level with this on this basic issue. I thought we were past all of this.”

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