At a US Senate hearing which was meant to scrutinise the safety of abortion pills, Republican Senator Josh Hawley repeatedly pressed an Indian-American obstetrician with a single question: “Can men get pregnant?”
The exchange happened during a Health, Education, Labour and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing titled “Protecting Women: Exposing the Dangers of Chemical Abortion Drugs” at the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
Hawley interrupted the doctor multiple times to demand a direct yes-or-no answer to his question.
Lawmakers and witnesses were formally there to debate federal policies on abortion medication, and Dr Nisha Verma, a reproductive health adviser, was appearing as a Democratic witness.
Nisha Verma was born to an Indian immigrant family in North Carolina, she completed her medical education at the University of North Carolina. Reportedly, she is a certified obstetrician-gynaecologist and a complex family planning subspecialist, with degrees in Biology, Anthropology and Public Health.
Verma, who treats patients with diverse gender identities, resisted the framing, arguing that such questions were being used as political tools rather than genuine inquiries.
The confrontation was then amplified online. Hawley posted a clip of the exchange on his official X account, captioning it, “SPOILER ALERT: Men cannot get pregnant.”
In a follow-up post, he wrote, “Can men get pregnant? Not a difficult question.”
Testifying before the committee, Verma emphasised that abortion medication has been studied extensively and used safely for decades. “Medication abortion has been rigorously studied and proven safe and effective in over 100 high-quality peer-reviewed studies,” she told lawmakers.
She added that more than 7.5 million people in the United States have used the drugs since their approval in 2000, warning that restrictions driven by politics were causing real harm.
Hawley shifted the focus by pressing her with that one question, “Can men get pregnant?”
Verma hesitated before responding, saying she cared for patients who do not identify as women. “I do take care of people that don't identify as women,” she said, declining to offer a simple yes or no.
“The goal is to establish a biological reality. This is about science and evidence. I'm asking you. This is not a hypothetical question,” Hawley insisted.
Verma said, “Science and evidence should guide medicine. But I also think yes or no questions like this are political tools.”
As Hawley interrupted again, arguing that he was seeking truth and biological reality.
“You are called by the other sites as an expert, and you are a doctor and you follow the science and evidence. Just want to know based on the evidence. Can men get pregnant? That's a yes or no question,” Hawley said.
He added, “ I'm trying to get an answer. I'm trying to test, frankly, your veracity as a medical professional and scientist, can men get pregnant?”
Verma attempted to defuse the exchange, saying, “I would be more than happy to have a conversation with you that is not coming from the place of trying to be polarised.”
Hawley responded: “It is extraordinary that we are in a hearing about science and about women. For the record, it's the women who get pregnant and not men.”
He later added, “You don't even acknowledge the basic reality that biological men don't get pregnant. There is 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.”
Verma defended her stance, saying, “I'm a person of science, and I'm also here to represent the complex experiences of my patients. I don't think polarised language or questions sort that goal.”
Hawley countered again. “It is not polarising to say that women are a biological reality and should be treated and protected as such; that is not polarising. That is the truth...Your refusal to recognise men as men and women as women is deeply corrosive to science, public trust, and constitutional protection for women as women.”
Elon Musk also reposted Hawley's video saying that the 'men cannot get pregnant' concept works for all male mammals as well.
The hearing featured several other witnesses, including Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill and Dr Monique Chireau Wubbenhorst, and was led by Republican senators Josh Hawley and Ashley Moody.
Currently an adjunct assistant professor at Emory University School of Medicine, Verma provides clinical care in Georgia and Maryland. She has testified before Congress on the harms of abortion restrictions and is leading research on the impact of Georgia’s six-week abortion ban on people with high-risk pregnancies.