During a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing on January 14, 2026, titled “Protecting Women: Exposing the Dangers of Chemical Abortion Drugs,” Republican U.S. Senators Josh Hawley of Missouri and Ashley Moody of Florida repeatedly asked Dr. Nisha Verma, an obstetrician-gynecologist (OB-GYN) from Atlanta, Georgia, if men can get pregnant.
Dr. Verma, who was testifying as a Democratic witness and a senior adviser to Physicians for Reproductive Health, hesitated to give a direct “yes” or “no” answer to the question. She stated that she takes care of patients with diverse identities, including those who do not identify as women, and that she wasn’t sure of the goal or political intent behind such a “close-ended” question. Hawley pressed her, asserting that the goal was to establish “biological reality” and “the truth,” and to test her “veracity as a medical professional and as a scientist”.
Sen. Moody’s Questioning
> Sen. Moody: “Science and evidence should control, not politics. So, let’s test that. Can men get pregnant?”
> Dr. Verma: “I take care of people with many identities… I wasn’t sure where you were going with that.”
> Sen. Moody: “This is about science and evidence. Can biological men get pregnant? Yes or no?”
Dr. Verma hesitated, arguing that the question oversimplified complex patient experiences, including transgender men who retain female reproductive anatomy.
Sen. Hawley’s Follow-Up
> Sen. Hawley: “I’m trying to test your veracity as a medical professional. Can men get pregnant?”
> Dr. Verma: “You’re conflating sex and gender.”
> Sen. Hawley: “No, I’m not. There are biological men and biological women. Can men get pregnant?”
Hawley accused Dr. Verma of evading a straightforward biological fact, stating:
“It is not polarizing to say women are a biological reality. Your refusal to recognize this corrodes science and constitutional protections for women.”
Hawley and other Republican lawmakers, including Senator Bill Cassidy, chairman of the committee, emphasized that pregnancy is a biological function exclusive to females. Hawley later posted on social media platform X, stating, “Spoiler alert: Men cannot get pregnant.”
SPOILER ALERT: Men cannot get pregnant pic.twitter.com/08JwHUlxIj
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) January 14, 2026
Following the hearing, Representative Earl L. “Buddy” Carter (R-GA) sent a letter to the Georgia Composite Medical Board, requesting the revocation of Dr. Verma’s medical license for her refusal to unequivocally state that men cannot get pregnant.
Read the full letter [ https://buddycarter.house.gov/UploadedFiles/Rep._Carter_Letter_to_Georgia_Composite_Medical_Board_1.15.26.pdf ] copy and paste the link
Medical experts and scientific literature generally define pregnancy as occurring in individuals with female reproductive organs. However, some medical professionals and advocates for transgender rights acknowledge that transgender men (individuals assigned female at birth who identify as male) can become pregnant if they retain their reproductive organs. Dr. Verma’s reluctance to provide a simple “yes” or “no” answer was interpreted by some as an acknowledgment of the complex experiences of her patients, including those born with female reproductive organs who identify as male.
The hearing itself was focused on the safety of chemical abortion drugs, with Republican lawmakers advocating for stricter regulations on medication abortions. They cited concerns about potential “serious adverse” health events, while medical experts unaffiliated with religious groups, such as Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, affirm that mifepristone, a commonly used abortion drug, is “extremely safe and very effective”.
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