What began as a Senate hearing on abortion medication safety quickly shifted into a confrontation over language, biology, and identity inside a U.S. committee room. During a session of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Senator Josh Hawley repeatedly pressed a medical witness with a blunt question: can men get pregnant?
Dr. Nisha Verma, an OB-GYN and reproductive health adviser, declined a yes-or-no reply, instead emphasizing patient care and medical evidence. She told senators abortion pills are among the most studied drugs in reproductive healthcare, used by millions since 2000, warning that political framing should not override clinical science.
00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Since you bring it up, why don't we start there. Dr. Verma, I wasn't sure I understood your answer to Senator Moody a moment ago. Do you think that men can get pregnant?
00:11I hesitated there because I wasn't sure where the conversation was going or what the goal was. 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. And so that's where I paused. I think I wasn't sure where you were going with that.
00:29Well, the goal is just the truth. So can men get pregnant?
00:33Again, the reason I paused there is I'm not really sure what the goal of the question is.
00:37The goal is just to establish a biological reality. 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?
00:49I take care of people with many identities, but I take care of many women that can get pregnant. I do take care of people that don't identify as women.
00:58Can men get pregnant?
01:00Again, as I'm saying...
01:02Let me just remind you of you testified to a moment ago. Science and evidence should control, not politics. So, can men get pregnant? You're a doctor, I think.
01:13I totally agree. Science and evidence should guide medicine.
01:16Do science and evidence tell us that men can get pregnant? Biological men. Can they get pregnant?
01:20I also think yes, no questions like this are a political tool and...
01:24No, yes, no questions are about the truth, doctor. Let's not make a mockery of this proceeding. This is about science and evidence. And I'm asking you, you know, the United States Supreme Court just heard arguments yesterday at great length on this question.
01:37This is not a hypothetical question. This is not theoretical. It affects real people in their real lives. And you're here as an expert, called by the other side as an expert, and you've been telling us that you follow, right, you're a doctor, and you follow the science and the evidence.
01:52So, I just want to know, based on the science, can men get pregnant?
01:58That's a yes or no question. It really is, I think.
02:00I think you're trying to reduce the complexity of a lot of...
02:03I'm not. I'm trying to get... It's not complex. I'm trying to get to an answer, and I'm trying to test, frankly, your veracity as a medical professional and as a scientist. Can men get pregnant?
02:15I think you're also conflating male with...
02:19No, I'm not conflating male and female. There are two different things. There's biological men, and there's biological women. And I want to know, can men get pregnant?
02:28What you were talking about is biologically...
02:31You're not going to answer my question.
02:32You're saying biological males...
02:34This isn't hard, doctor. Can men get pregnant? Yes or no?
02:40I would be more than happy to have a conversation with you that is not coming from a place of trying to be polarized and push people...
02:48I'm not trying to be polarizing. I'm trying to ask... I think it is extraordinary that we are here and hearing about science and about women. And for the record, it's women who get pregnant, not men.
03:00We are here about the safety of women and science that shows that this abortion drug causes adverse health events in 11% of cases. That's 22 times greater than the FDA label, another fact you haven't acknowledged.
03:19And 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.
03:28I just... 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.
03:37I thought we were past all of this, frankly. I can't believe we're still here talking about this.
03:44I am a person of science and I'm also someone here who's here to represent the complex experiences of my patients. And I don't think polarized language or questions serve that goal. I don't think they serve the American people.
03:57It 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.
04:04It is not polarizing to say that women are a biological reality and should be treated and protected as such.
04:11That is not polarizing. That is truth. It is also, by the way, the United States Constitution, which offers unique protections to women in a variety of circumstances as women.
04:22And your refusal to recognize women as women and men as men is deeply corrosive to science, to public trust, and, yes, to constitutional protections for women as women.
04:34And I just... I think it's extraordinary that you would sit here and advance a political agenda that has been thoroughly discredited and rejected by the American people in this forum.
04:45And I'm glad we had this exchange because it is exceptionally clarifying. It is also in many ways quite depressing.
04:52I see that my time has nearly expired. I just want to thank the other witnesses for being here.
04:55Thank you for protecting women and children. Thank you for your valiant efforts. Thank you for following the science.
05:01And thank you, Mr. Chairman, for this hearing.
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