Sen. Josh Hawley got into a heated exchange with a law professor from Berkeley over who can be pregnant during a Senate hearing on abortion Tuesday.
Khiara Bridges, testifying as an expert in race and reproductive rights, called out the Missouri Republican senator’s line of questioning as being “transphobic” during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about the abortion restriction case – Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization – which prompted the Supreme Court unravel Roe v. Wade last month.
In the exchange, Hawley first probed Bridges by asking her for clarification if she was referring to women when she said, “people with a capacity for pregnancy.”
Bridges then responded by noting to Hawley: “Many women, cis women, have the capacity for pregnancy. Many cis women do not have the capacity for pregnancy. There are also trans men who are capable of pregnancy as well as non-binary people who are capable of pregnancy.”
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Then Hawley responded by asking Bridges if abortion was a “women’s right issue.”
“We can recognize that this impacts women while also recognizing that it impacts other groups, those things are not mutually exclusive, Sen. Hawley,” Bridges said.
Next, Hawley demanded to know who Bridges believed was at the “core of this (abortion) right.”
“I want to recognize that your line of questioning is transphobic,” Bridges responded back. “It opens up trans people to violence by not recognizing them.”
Bridge’s emphasis on using inclusive language comes as transgender rights organizations and advocates have been outspoken about the merits of abortion at a time when the community already feels discriminated by various state bills banning transgender youth inclusion in sports.
The rest of the exchange goes as followed:
– “Wow,” Hawley said. “You’re saying that I’m going to get people to violence by asking whether or not women are the folks who can have pregnancy.”
– Bridges then noted that 1 in 5 transgender people commit suicide each year. According to a 2021 study by the Trevor Project, an LGBTQ rights advocacy group, more than half of transgender and nonbinary youth in the country seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year.
– “Because of my line of questioning?” Hawley asked. “So we can’t talk about it?”
– “Because denying that trans people exist and pretending not to know that they exist is dangerous,” Bridges said.
– “I’m denying that trans people exist by asking you if you’re talking about women having pregnancies?” Hawley said.
– “Are you?” Bridges shot back. “So you believe that men cannot get pregnant?”
– “No, I don’t think that men can get pregnant,” Hawley said.
– “Then you are denying that trans people exist,” she said. “Thank you.”
– “Is this how you run your classroom? Are students allowed to question you or are they also treated like this?” Hawley asked.
– “We have a good time in my class,” Bridges shot back. “You should join. You might learn a lot.”
