House Republicans feigned ignorance or just outright lied in an Education and Workforce Committee hearing on Tuesday as they pretended not to understand how a transgender man could get pregnant.
One indignant representative, freshman Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL), called the idea “insane.”
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The hearing was convened by committee chair, Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), as a follow-up to Republicans’ investigation of alleged rampant antisemitism in America’s elite universities. That investigation included Ivy Leagues schools like Brown and Columbia, where Jewish people make up about a quarter of the student population.
Tuesday’s hearing—entitled, “Training Activists, Not Physicians: The Impact of DEI on Medical Schools”—targeted diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts [DEI] and their implications for antisemitism and other kinds of racial and religious discrimination on campuses.
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Heads of medical schools at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), UCLA, and the University of Illinois came under attack for their curricula.
“Today’s hearing is about accountability,” said committee chair Walberg. “Why are you prioritizing politics over medical education? Why are you perpetuating antisemitism and discrimination? Why are you turning doctors into activists?”
“We prepare our medical students to deliver high-quality, evidence-based care grounded in science, clinical judgment, and professionalism,” Steven M. Dubinett, dean of the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, told the committee. “Effective medical care requires understanding how a patient’s background and circumstances can affect health.”
It’s “a necessary part of medical education,” he said.
But Republican committee members hammered the witnesses over University of California courses that addressed what they reduced to MAGA DEI chum like “settler colonialization, white fragility, fatphobia, the Black Panther Party, prison abolition, border abolition, and queer liberation,” as described in a committee blog post about the hearing.
And Republican committee members couldn’t stop talking about “pregnant people.”
“UCSF’s classroom guide, titled ‘Framework for Gender and Sex Concepts in Teaching,’ advises against using the term ‘pregnant women,’” Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) told UCSF Chancellor Dr. Sam Hawgood in questioning. “Instead, it says to use ‘pregnant people.’ Who are ‘pregnant people’ compared to pregnant women? Just curious.”
Hawgood replied, “So that is a part of a curriculum to help our students who are facing a wide diversity of patients. Of course, the vast majority of pregnancies are in women, and I have absolutely no problem with using the word ‘pregnant women.’ I use it myself.”
“Has a non-biological woman ever had a baby?” Miller asked.
“A transgender person can,” Hawgood responded.
“That’s not a biological woman. Has a non-biological woman ever had a baby?”
“I would reiterate,” said Hawgood, “we take care of transgender patients.”
“It’s ridiculous,” Miller interrupted.
Rep. Fine piled on with a “pregnant people” reprise, in keeping with his anti-LGBTQ+ history as a Florida state senator. Fine helped dissolve The Walt Disney Company’s self-government district in service of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis‘ feud with Disney over their opposition to his “Don’t Say Gay” legislation. The Jewish congressman wore a yarmulke in committee at Tuesday’s hearing.
Fine took issue with the term “transgender person.”
“Use your made-up language,” Fine told Hawgood. “Who are the other people who are pregnant in your kooky worldview? You said the vast majority of pregnancies are in women. Who are the other pregnancies in?”
“A transgender person,” Hawgood replied.
“A transgender person?” Fine said. “The answer, I could presume in your kooky language, would be a transgender man. I don’t know why you won’t just admit that. A transgender woman would be a man who’s pretending to be a woman. So why won’t you even say the truth in your own screwed-up view of the world that the other pregnancies are transgender men? Why won’t you just say that?”
“I’m happy to say that,” Hawgood said.
“Okay, so say it,” Fine told him.
“Transgender men,” Hawgood replied.
“Transgender men get pregnant,” Fine reiterated. “That is your view. Okay. That’s insane.”
An estimated 85% to 90% of trans men retain the biological potential to get pregnant, which remains possible with a functioning uterus and ovaries, according to Planned Parenthood.
In a 2023 TikTok video, Tanius Posey, a 31-year-old Black trans male “seahorse dad” (so named for the fact that male seahorses give birth to their offspring), said, “There are plenty of us that are out and proud about it and carrying kids, but you’ve got to stop living under a rock and realize that it’s okay.”
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