Khiara Bridges, a professor at the Berkeley School of Law, accused Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) on Tuesday of opening transgender people up to violence by asking if only women can get pregnant.
The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the legal consequences of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.
During the hearing, Hawley wanted to clarify what Bridges meant by referring to those who could get pregnant.
“I want want to clear one thing up, Professor Bridges. You said several times you’ve used a phrase I want to make sure I understand what you mean by it. You’ve referred to ‘people with a capacity for pregnancy.’ Would that be women?”
Bridges claimed that many other people besides women can get pregnant.
“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,” the Berkeley law professor said.
Hawley replied that this phrase does not focus on women’s rights, which is the topic of Tuesday’s Senate Judiciary hearing.
Bridges labeled Hawley’s line of questioning “transphobic” because it “opens up trans people to violence by not recognizing them.”
She continued saying that Hawley could open transgender people to violence by “denying that trans people exist and pretending not to know that they exist.”
Hawley asked, “I’m denying that trans people exist by asking you if you’re talking about women having pregnancy?”
Bridges also called to repeal the ban on federal funding for abortion, otherwise known as the Hyde Amendment. She said it has “made it impossible for low-income people to rely on their health insurance.”
The Missouri populist said, “According to today’s Democrat party, if you believe that only women get pregnant, you are a bigot and responsible for violence.”
He added, “For today’s left, disagreement with them = violence. So you must not disagree.”
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.