A heated exchange erupted in Congress on Wednesday when a medical doctor refused to answer whether men could get pregnant.
The five-minute exchange happened during a hearing about the abortion pill. The U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions was holding a hearing called “Protecting Women: Exposing the Dangers of Chemical Abortion Drugs.”
The contentious exchange erupted between Republican Senator Josh Hawley from Missouri and Nisha Verma, M.D., an abortion doctor with Physicians for Reproductive Health in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Verma testified the abortion drug mifepristone is safe, but her credibility came into question when she was unable to answer whether men could get pregnant.
“Can men get pregnant? You’re a doctor, I think,” Hawley said.
“Science and evidence should guide medicine,” Verma replied.
“Do science and evidence tell us that men can get pregnant, biological men? Can they get pregnant?” Hawley persisted.
“I also think yes-no questions like this are a political tool,” Verma protested.
“No,” Hawley replied. “Yes-no questions are about the truth, doctor. Let’s not make a mockery of this proceeding.”
***Please sign up for CBN Newsletters and download the CBN News app to receive the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.***
nother physician who testified at the hearing contradicted Dr. Verma’s testimony. Monique Wubbenhost, M.D., an Obstetrician-Gynecologist, said mifepristone can cause a number of short and long-term physical and mental harms to women, especially to those who obtain it through the mail.
“The different risks that are associated are bleeding, infection, hemorrhage, need for transfusion, and perforation,” she said.
Louisiana Attorney General Elizabeth Murrill told the committee that obtaining the drug through the mail is so easy, it circumvents abortion bans in her states and approximately a dozen others.
“After Dobbs, the Biden FDA promptly announced that it would remove the in-person dispensing requirements for abortion pills, thereby authorizing mifepristone to be shipped nationwide by mail,” she said.
Witnesses told stories of the baby’s father, sex traffickers, the pregnant woman’s parents, and others, fraudulently obtaining the drug online and through the mail, then forcing a pregnant woman to take it against her will or surreptitiously putting it in her drink and ending her pregnancy.
After the hearing, pro-life leaders led by Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council, held a news conference calling on the Trump administration to suspend distribution of the abortion drug until its risks can be further evaluated, adding it’s far more dangerous than the risks outlined on its package. Pro-life leaders are also calling on the FDA to reinstate mandatory in-person doctor visits in order for patients to receive it.
“The time for bureaucratic delay is over,” Perkins said. “It’s time to respect the rights of states to protect the unborn. The American people can and should weigh in on this, and they can make their voices heard by texting ‘LIFE’ to 67742 and signing the petition calling on the FDA to act.”
If you would like to sign the petition, click HERE.
Perkins acknowledged the FDA committed to reviewing mifepristone, but said the agency is taking too long, adding the review has “dragged on for months.”
