In a US Senate hearing meant to examine the safety and regulation of abortion pills, a deceptively simple question hijacked the spotlight: Can men get pregnant?

Asked repeatedly by Republican Senator Josh Hawley and repeatedly deflected by Indian-origin physician Dr Nisha Verma, the exchange ricocheted across social media, cable news, and political commentary. What might have been a straightforward biological question instead became a flashpoint in America’s ongoing culture wars over gender identity, reproductive rights, and the role of science in public policy.

This article explains what actually happened, why the question mattered politically, and how a single moment came to symbolize a much larger debate in the United States.

What happened at the Senate hearing?

The moment unfolded during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing focused on mifepristone, a commonly used abortion pill.

The committee was reviewing whether abortion pills could be misused, including concerns raised by Republican lawmakers that men might obtain the medication and pressure women into terminating pregnancies. Dr Nisha Verma appeared before the panel as a medical expert on reproductive healthcare.

During the hearing, Senator Hawley posed a direct question: can men get pregnant?

Dr Verma declined to answer with a yes or no. Instead, she questioned the intent behind the query and suggested it was being used as a political tool rather than a medical one. Hawley repeated the question 14 times, saying his goal was to establish a basic biological reality. The exchange ended without a clear answer and quickly became the most talked-about moment of the hearing.

Why did “can men get pregnant?” become the focal point?

The biology itself is not complicated. The controversy lay in how the question was framed and why it was asked.

For Hawley and other conservative lawmakers, the question was intended to reinforce a traditional definition of biological sex. It aligned with broader criticism of what they describe as ideological language entering medicine and public policy. In that sense, the question was less about healthcare regulation and more about drawing a clear line in the gender debate.

For Dr Verma and her supporters, the question was seen as a setup designed for viral clips. They argue it ignored how modern medicine treats transgender and gender-diverse patients and reduced a complex issue to a binary answer for political effect.

This clash of perspectives is why the question can men get pregnant became central to the hearing and to the wider public reaction.

What does medical science actually say?

From a medical standpoint, the answer depends on how the question is defined.

Cisgender men, meaning people assigned male at birth who identify as male, cannot get pregnant. Pregnancy requires reproductive organs such as a uterus and ovaries, which cisgender men do not have.

However, some transgender men, who were assigned female at birth but identify as male, may retain reproductive organs and can become pregnant. Major medical organizations acknowledge this distinction when providing clinical guidance.

Dr Verma appeared to be referencing this broader medical context, while Hawley was pressing for a simplified answer that excluded social or identity-based considerations.

Who is Dr Nisha Verma?

Dr Nisha Verma is an Indian-American physician specializing in obstetrics and gynecology. She was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, to Indian immigrant parents and studied biology and anthropology before earning her medical degree from the University of North Carolina.

She completed her internship and OB-GYN residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and later pursued a fellowship in complex family planning along with a public health degree from Emory University.

Dr Verma is a double board-certified OB-GYN and currently practices comprehensive reproductive healthcare in Georgia. She also serves as a senior advisor for reproductive health policy and advocacy at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and teaches as an adjunct assistant professor at Emory University School of Medicine.

Why abortion pills and gender debates collided here

The hearing was officially about the regulation of abortion pills, but the exchange revealed deeper tensions.

Republican lawmakers have expressed concern that abortion medication could be accessed without sufficient safeguards and potentially used to coerce women. These concerns overlap with broader skepticism toward medical institutions that adopt inclusive language around gender.

On the other side, medical professionals and Democratic lawmakers argue that abortion access should be guided by evidence-based medicine, not ideological tests. They warn that politicizing medical testimony risks undermining patient care and public trust.

The question can men get pregnant became a proxy for these larger disagreements over control, access, and authority in reproductive healthcare.

Why did the moment go viral?

Several factors contributed to the clip’s rapid spread online.

The repeated questioning created a dramatic, almost circular exchange that translated well into short video clips. The simplicity of the question made it easy to understand and easy to provoke strong reactions. The timing also mattered, as debates over gender identity and reproductive rights are already highly polarized in the US.

On social media, nuance often struggled to survive. Supporters of Hawley viewed Dr Verma’s responses as evasive, while her supporters saw the questioning as deliberately provocative.

Why does this debate matter beyond one hearing?

This moment highlights the growing difficulty of discussing science in a politically neutral way.

When medical experts avoid binary answers, some audiences interpret it as ideological bias. When politicians oversimplify scientific concepts, it can distort public understanding and shape policy debates around soundbites rather than evidence.

Reproductive healthcare policy affects millions of Americans. Moments like this show how easily complex medical issues can be reframed as cultural flashpoints, with real consequences for lawmaking and public trust.

TL;DR

A US Senate hearing on abortion pills went viral after an Indian-origin doctor declined to give a yes-or-no answer to the question can men get pregnant. Senator Josh Hawley pressed the issue to emphasize biological definitions of sex, while Dr Nisha Verma pushed back against what she saw as a political framing. The exchange resonated because it sat at the intersection of science, gender identity, and reproductive rights, turning a medical discussion into a cultural lightning rod.