The Freak Show Goes On

Earlier this week, Dr. Sam Hawgood, the chancellor of the University of California, San Francisco—one of the most prestigious medical schools in the country—sat before the House Committee on Education and Workforce and refused to say that only women can get pregnant. The hearing was titled "Training Activists, Not Physicians: The Impact of DEI on Medical Schools," and Hawgood was there to defend UCSF's classroom guidelines, which advise against using the term "pregnant women" in favor of "pregnant people." Representative Mary Miller of Illinois asked the obvious question: Who are "pregnant people" compared to "pregnant women"? Hawgood squirmed. Miller pressed. She asked whether a "non-biological woman" could carry a child. Hawgood replied, "A transgender person can." Miller asked again: Has a non-biological woman ever had a baby? Hawgood could not bring himself to say no. Representative Randy Fine of Florida pushed further, asking who besides women can become pregnant. Hawgood finally said that "transgender men" can carry children, prompting Fine to call the remark "insane." When cornered, the best Hawgood could manage was that "a vast majority of pregnancies are in women." A vast majority. As though there were a meaningful minority of pregnancies occurring in men. This is the chancellor of a medical school. He teaches doctors. He cannot say that only women give birth.