Anti-Trump Doctor Doubles Down on Abortion for Men, Calls It 'Scientific, Medical Fact'
It sounds like one of those corny jokes from a 1980s comedian: “Abortion for men? I think it would go a little something like this…” Except it’s very real and very stupid — although it’s still a joke.
In case you haven’t heard of Dr. Eugene Gu, you probably aren’t quite familiar with the ins and outs of political Twitter. He’s a surgeon who apparently finds time in his daily schedule to constantly tweet about the various perfidies of one Donald J. Trump.
For instance, take the controversy du jour: President Trump’s tweets about certain progressive congresswomen that are widely being denounced as racist:
There have been so many times in my life that people have told me to go back to my own country. Now the President of the United States is exploiting that same racist energy for political power.
I was born in San Francisco.
This is my country.
And we have a #RacistPresident.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) July 15, 2019
I’m sure this gentleman has opinions on a number of issues but isn’t he supposed to be a doctor — a doctor with a startup, no less, if his Twitter profile is correct? A few of my friends and relatives are doctors. They aren’t known to spend hours a day trying to cultivate a following on political Twitter for a very obvious reason — they’re busy doing doctor-y stuff.
Yet Dr. Gu has somehow found time to be one of the plaintiffs in the utterly preposterous lawsuit that prevented President Trump from blocking individuals on his private Twitter account:
It was cold, freezing afternoon in New York the moment we walked out of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. But we had the warm feeling that we won.
Today’s ruling affirms it.
The President of the United States cannot block American citizens on Twitter. pic.twitter.com/jw5KHCBmfT
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) July 9, 2019
Note to investors: Unless this guy’s startup is somehow monetizing anti-Trump rants from doctors, put your money in a safer place.
Oh, and if the startup involves abortion, pretty much anywhere is a safer place, as Dr. Gu proved with a tweet last week:
It’s a scientific and medical fact that men can get pregnant and also have abortions. Trans men and non-binary individuals are human beings who deserve to be acknowledged by society. They choose their own identity—not me, not you, not any doctor, and certainly not any politician.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) July 12, 2019
“It’s a scientific and medical fact that men can get pregnant and also have abortions,” Dr. Gu tweeted. “Trans men and non-binary individuals are human beings who deserve to be acknowledged by society. They choose their own identity—not me, not you, not any doctor, and certainly not any politician.”
Really, now? And thus began a torrent of mockery:
The following is a list of doctors I would solicit for medical advice before consulting Eugene Gu, MD:
1. Dr. Rosen Rosen
2. Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
3. Dr. Mabuse
4. Dr. Hugo Z. Hackenbush
5. Dr. Zaius https://t.co/IJg3XCASRs— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) July 15, 2019
I’d debate #2; I hear he overprescribes ether (and everything else, really). All of the rest, yeah, sure. There were some other options, as well.
Don’t forget Hugh Laurie
— Harry Khachatrian (@Harry1T6) July 15, 2019
AND
Dr Suess
Dr Who
Dr No and
Dr Dr— truthseeker (@TruthseekerAnb) July 16, 2019
What about Dr. Zhivago?
— Brian Lewis (@bxlewi1) July 15, 2019
Evolutionary behavioral scientist Gad Saad, meanwhile, had an interesting question for Dr. Gu.
Dear Dr. Gu, a trans man ( biological female) friend of mine is looking for a urologist/reproductive specialist to test his sperm’s motility. Do you have a recommendation that I might share with him? [I’ll retweet this as well.]
— Gad Saad (@GadSaad) July 14, 2019
This is a silly thing to plant one’s flag on, so, of course, Dr. Gu continued to double down, because why not? First, he retweeted a writer who had done a piece regarding individuals who identified as men who’d had abortions:
When we ran our big piece on abortion, a lot of conservatives took issue with an editor’s note where I said men can get pregnant. Happy to present those fucks with this feature on men who have gotten abortions & how the health care system fails them: https://t.co/ppx7l4GwBS
— Alana Hope Levinson (@alanalevinson) July 11, 2019
And then he tweeted the exception that more or less proved the rule:
Biological sex exists on a spectrum just like gender. Patients with 46 XY karyotype have given birth. They are not “mutants” or “monsters” or an aberration. They are human beings. Both gender and sex are sociologically and scientifically non-binary. #InternationalNonBinaryDay
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) July 14, 2019
These are very rare cases, mind you. If this is a spectrum, you have almost everyone concentrated around the two poles with an infinitesimal number of individuals with chromosomal abnormalities in the middle.
I can also guess that’s not what Dr. Gu meant. What he was talking about were those who identify as a gender that they aren’t in a biological sense. Once he reaped a whirlwind of criticism, he noted the exceptions and hid behind liberal dogma.
Let’s be clear on who we’re talking about, for the most part: biological women, who identify as a male, who haven’t transitioned yet and who have become pregnant. Simply saying they’re men isn’t scientific, medical or psychological fact. It’s thorny territory at best and saying otherwise is advancing a political agenda and nothing else.
Gu, in case you forgot, was the guy who was canned two-and-a-half years into a five-year residency at Vanderbilt. He says it’s because of his political activism — including kneeling in support of Colin Kaepernick, which launched his viral career — while the hospital says it’s because of his performance and professionalism.
I don’t want to be one of those people who says “shut up and [do blank]” to people who want to express their political opinions — although I have to admit I’m wont to disqualify the opinions of an actor or singer who suddenly thinks they, say, understand the intricacies of tax policy.
In the case of Dr. Gu, however, this is someone who has one of the most exigent professions on planet Earth. You can either be an effective doctor or a viral political Twitter star, but I think being both is probably difficult.
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