US Republican senators Josh Hawley and Ashley Moody led the debate at a Senate hearing, where lawmakers spoke out for or against federal abortion pill policies. Others to testify at the public event were Indian-American Dr Nisha Verma, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill and Dr Monique Chireau Wubbenhorst.
Hawley, who is both a politician and an attorney, left an Indian-origin doctor stumped at the hearing on Wednesday (US time) with an interjecting question he repeatedly brought up during the discussion – ‘Can men get pregnant?’. The interaction between the Republican senator and OB-GYN Dr Nisha Verma immediately went viral on social media, with Hawley posting a clip of the hearing on his official X account.
US Senator vs Indian-American doctor at US abortion hearing: What happened?
After the conclusion of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP) hearing titled “Protecting Women: Exposing the Dangers of Chemical Abortion Drugs” held in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hawley shared the video of the interaction on X.
“SPOILER ALERT: Men cannot get pregnant,” Josh Hawley captioned the tweet. In a follow-up post, he wrote further, “Can men get pregnant? Not a difficult question.”
Florida’s Ashley Moody also posted about the development with a video, adding, “Can men get pregnant?”
Their repeated swipes on X directly reflected Moody and Hawley’s counter-responses to Dr Nisha Verma at the Senate hearing. Both politicians pushed down hard on exacting a yes-or-no answer from her as she declined to directly deal with the argument in a binary way.
SPOILER ALERT: Men cannot get pregnant pic.twitter.com/08JwHUlxIj
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) January 14, 2026
Since she refused to partake in the politically-driven discussion, netizens have already branded Dr Verma “woke” on social media. Meanwhile, Hawley was heard taking a jab at her at the hearing: “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.”
Defending the “hesitation” before her response, Dr Verma came out and told Hawley, “I hesitated there because I wasn’t sure where the conversation was going.. what the goal was. I do take care of patients with different identities. I take care of many women, I take care of people with different identities. So, that’s where I paused. I wasn’t sure where you were going with that.”
Alluding to Dr Verma’s own words, Hawley hit back, “You just said a moment ago, ‘Science and evidence should control, not politics,’ so let’s just test that proposition. Can men get pregnant?”
The Indian-origin doctor got caught in the same cycle, as she replied, “I take care of many women that can get pregnant. I do take care of people who don’t identify as women.” But, Hawley continues pressing down on the same question.
Dr Verma then interjected: “I think yes-no questions like this are a political tool.” Hearing this, Hawley instantly jumped in to say, “No! Yes-no questions are about the truth, doctor. Let’s not make a mockery of this proceeding. This is about science and evidence… Based on the science, that’s a yes or no question. Can men get pregnant?”
As Dr Verma rebutted, claiming that he was trying to “reduce the complexity,” Hawley couldn’t help but question her credibility as a “person of science.”
As the debate grew bigger and bigger, she emphasised, “I am a person of science, and I am also someone here who is here to represent the complex experiences of my patients, and I don’t think polarised language or questions serve that goal. I don’t think they serve an American goal.”
At one point, Hawley asserted, “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.”
Who is Dr Nisha Verma?
According to her official profile note as provided on the US Congress website, Dr Nisha Verma was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, to Indian immigrant parents. She completed her Bachelor’s in Biology and Anthropology and her medical degree from the University of North Carolina.
Thereafter, she graduated from OB/GYN residency at Beth Israel Deaconess
Medical Center, and completed her Complex Family Planning Fellowship and Master’s in Public Health degree at Emory University.
As a board-certified OB/GYN practicing reproductive healthcare in Georgia, Dr Verma is also a fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health.