File photo: Dr Nisha Verma
Dr Nisha Verma has drawn national attention after a tense exchange during a recent US Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing on abortion pill safety. During the hearing, Republican Senator Josh Hawley repeatedly questioned Verma on whether men can get pregnant, a line of questioning that quickly went viral on social media and reignited wider political and cultural debates around gender identity, reproductive rights and the language used in healthcare.Verma, who appeared as a Democratic witness, declined to give a direct yes-or-no answer and described the questioning as “polarizing”, saying she treats patients “with many identities”. Hawley responded by asserting that “it is women who get pregnant, not men.” The exchange has since fuelled sharp reactions online and among policymakers, with the debate likely to shape future discussions on abortion policy, transgender healthcare and the regulation of medication abortion in the US.
Who is Dr Nisha Verma?
Dr Nisha Verma is a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist and a complex family planning subspecialist. She was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, to Indian immigrant parents. She completed her Bachelor’s degree in Biology and Anthropology and her medical degree at the University of North Carolina, and later earned a Master’s in Public Health from Emory University.She trained in obstetrics and gynaecology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and completed a Complex Family Planning Fellowship at Emory University. According to Emory University, she is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Emory University School of Medicine.Dr Verma currently serves as Senior Advisor for Reproductive Health Policy and Advocacy at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), as per AcademyHealth.She provides reproductive healthcare in states including Georgia and Maryland, has testified before Congress on abortion restrictions, and is involved in research examining the impact of Georgia’s six-week abortion ban on high-risk pregnancies.