Comment Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday on the legal implications of the fee Roe v. Wade, was accused by a congressional witness of using a transphobic line of questioning. Hawley asked UC Berkeley law professor Khiara M. Bridges who she was talking about when she talked about “persons of childbearing potential.” “Would they be women?” Howley asked. Bridges, who during the hearing advocated for access to abortion care for all people at risk of pregnancy, explained that cisgender women, trans men and non-binary people can get pregnant. Lawmakers push Biden to declare public health emergency over abortion “Many cis women have the capacity for pregnancy. A lot of cis women don’t have the capacity for pregnancy,” Bridges said. “There are also trans men who can get pregnant as well as non-binary people who are able to get pregnant.” “So this isn’t really a women’s rights issue?” Hawley replied. Bridges explained to Hawley that the Supreme Court decision to strike Roe it affects cisgender women as well as other groups. These things, he said, are not mutually exclusive. Some gender and reproductive rights experts use gender-neutral terms such as “persons of childbearing potential” and “pregnant” when talking about these issues, which help to demonstrate that not only same-sex women have the ability for pregnancy — and women They’re not the only ones affected by decisions to limit reproductive health care. Hawley, however, repeated his question, asking Bridges what the core of her argument was. Bridges then told the senator his line of questioning was transphobic because he refused to recognize transgender people. “It opens up trans people to violence by not recognizing them,” Bridges told Hawley. Justice Department announces task force to fight overreach of abortion bans A skeptical Hawley then asked how his questioning could lead to violence. Bridges responded by noting that 1 in 5 trans people kill themselves. According to a 2021 study by the Trevor Project, an organization that advocates for LGBTQ rights, more than half of transgender and non-binary youth in the country have seriously considered a suicide attempt in the past year. The National Center for Transgender Equality also reported that more than 1 in 4 transgender people have experienced an attack due to bias. Just during the pandemic, calls to Trans Lifeline – a crisis hotline staffed by trans people – increased by 40%. “Do you think men can get pregnant?” Bridges then asked Hawley. “No, I don’t think so,” replied the senator. “So you’re denying that trans people exist,” Bridges said. As the confrontation escalated, Hawley asked Bridges if this is how she runs her classroom, telling students it opens people up “to violence.” “We have a good time in my class,” Bridges replied. “You should join. Maybe you’ll learn a lot.” “I’d learn a lot,” Hawley replied mockingly. “I learned a lot from this exchange.” The hearing was then transferred to another witness. But later Tuesday, Hawley shared a clip of the interaction on Twitter, accusing Democrats of being unwilling to engage in conversation. “For today’s leftists, disagreement with them = violence,” Hawley tweeted. “So you shouldn’t argue.” Bridges did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the exchange.
