Pardon my protracted absence. The New Year got off to a very hectic start, and I’ve been slammed. Not as slammed, perhaps, as Dr. Verma here, under the gentle inquiry of Senator Hawley, who had the audacity to ask the good doctor a real brain teaser earlier today – “Can men get pregnant?”
That was the question. A simple ‘yes or no’ query that Dr. Verma refused to answer. It’s remarkable to watch, not because of her rhetorical position, but because of her position in the medical community. Dr. Verma is an OBGYN – a licensed medical doctor whose expertise is rooted in human reproduction and human biology. By her own admission, she’s “a person of science,” who refuses to say that men can’t get pregnant.
It was hard to watch this unfold and not be reminded of another Senate hearing in 2022, when Judge Ketanji Brown told Senator Blackburn, under oath, that she could not define the word “woman,” because she “wasn’t a biologist.” I remember thinking at the time that the Senate couldn’t possibly confirm a nominee who couldn’t define a woman. It would be an affront to common sense. Besides, since when do you have to be a biologist to answer such a basic question?
But of course, they did. The Senate confirmed Justice Brown, and millions of people despaired, even as millions of others celebrated. And now, four years later, we’re still at it. Some are celebrating Dr. Verma’s refusal to answer the Senator’s question. But most people, I’ll wager, are wondering if the State Medical Boards in Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, and wherever else Dr. Verma is licensed to practice medicine, will let her continue to do so? Because, unlike the Justice Brown, Dr. Verma IS a biologist! She appeared in that capacity as an EXPERT! What excuse could she possibly have for failing to answer a question that’s rooted in…biology?
Honest question – can a doctor have their medical license suspended for saying something incredibly stupid? I have no idea, so I asked ChatGPT that very question, and the AI told me this. “A medical license can be suspended or revoked if a physician’s speech is considered unprofessional conduct, gross negligence, a direct risk to public safety, or constitutes the spread of misinformation in a professional capacity.” If the inability to answer the question, “Can men get pregnant,” doesn’t qualify, what does?
A lot of people are very quick these days to criticize anyone who doesn’t defer to the experts. But what are we to say to people who don’t trust the medical authorities on vaccines, or doubt the data behind climate catastrophism, when a licensed OBGYN can’t confirm or deny under oath that men can’t have babies? If a professor of geology with a PhD at a major university told his students the world was flat, should there be a consequence? If a licensed mechanic tells his customer there’s no need to change the oil, should there be a consequence? If a lawyer tells his client to lie under oath, should there be a consequence? If there is no consequence to a licensed OBGYN refusing to clarify basic biology before the US Senate, on national TV, under oath, then how can the scientific/medical community ever expect to win back our trust?
PS. Because everything old is new again… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dgp9MPLEAqA