July 14, 2022
In another episode of the series we’re all getting tired of (The Abortion Lobby: Calling It A Women’s Issue Yet Not Knowing What A Woman Is), United States Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) is making headlines for questioning a University of California Berkeley professor on who exactly can give birth — and subsequently getting called a transphobe. Let’s discuss what led up to this accusation and why it’s making everyone roll their eyes:
During a recent Senate hearing on abortion in a Post-Roe America, Hawley questioned one of the pro-abortion witnesses, a law professor from UC Berkley named Khiara Bridges, on her peculiar phraseology of who can give birth. Most of us with common sense would just call those people women—but there’s never common sense with the abortion lobby, is there? Check out a video of their interaction and corresponding transcription below.
Sen. Hawley addressed Bridges, saying, “You used a phrase and I want to make sure I know what you mean by it. You’ve referred to people with a capacity for pregnancy… would that be women?”
Bridges responded, “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.”
Hawley responded incredulously, “So…this isn’t really a women’s rights issue?”
Bridges didn’t like that assertion and interrupted to say, “We can recognize that this impacts women while also recognizing that it impacts other groups…those things are not mutually exclusive, Senator Hawley.”
Yes, things can affect men and women (and “other groups”) at the same time, but if that’s the case, it’s not a single group issue like the abortion lobby says when they call abortion a “women’s rights issue.” That would make it a human rights issue — and to that point, the pro-life movement agrees entirely. Abortion is the biggest human rights issue of our time as preborn children (male and female) are being legally slaughtered across the nation. However, it’s pretty clear that Bridges and other members of the abortion lobby don’t agree with us on whose rights are being violated — and that’s exactly what Hawley called her on.
Hawley responded, “So…your view of this right then is about what?”
And that’s when the fruitless accusations began. When the abortion supporter was asked to clarify herself, Bridges replied, “I want to recognize that your line of questioning is transphobic, and it opens up trans-people to violence.”
Unfortunately, this scenario isn’t anything new. When discussing how open Students for Life of America (SFLA) is to conversing with abortion supporters, a New York Times columnist recently condemned the abortion lobby for their refusal to interact (or interact pleasantly) with members of the pro-life movement.
Amazed at the absurdity of the abortion lobby, Hawley responded, “Wow, you’re saying I’m opening up people to violence by asking whether or not women are the folks who can have pregnancies?”
Bridges responded that he was opening trans-people up to violence by “denying that trans-people exist and pretending not to know that they exist,” but when Hawley questioned whether his query of who has pregnancy could be considered to “deny” that trans-people exist, Bridges asked him the penultimate question:
“Do you believe that men can get pregnant?”
Hawley stuck to his guns and said an emphatic no, defending the unique ability that only women have to bring children into this world. When Bridges spitefully laughed, he shot back:
“Is this how you run your classroom? Are students allowed to question you or are they also treated like this, where they are told that they are opening up people to violence by questions?”
Bridges responded, “We have a good time in my class. You should join; you might learn a lot.”
If “learn a lot” means learn a lot of pro-abortion propaganda, we’re sure such time would not be well-spent. However, in regard to teaching Bridges a couple things, we do have a few recommendations. For starters, a middle school biology class would be helpful to teach her when life begins (spoiler alert: conception). A constitutional law class wouldn’t hurt, either; did she skip that one when she was in school?
Putting the much-needed education of the abortion lobby aside, SFLA is always happy to see our pro-life representatives stand up for life in the face of adversity. The pro-life movement counts on these representatives for life-affirming legislation, and in a Post-Roe America, pro-life action is more important now than ever. Keep up the good work, Senator Hawley!