'You Said The Following, And I Quote...': Angela Alsobrooks Presses Trump Nom Over 'Gender Roles' Comments

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During a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing Wednesday, Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) asked President Trump's nominee to be Assistant Secretary for Health, Brian Christine about past comments about women and men fulfilling their 'natural and moral laws.'

Transcript

00:00Senator Olso-Brooks. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair, and congratulations to each of you

00:06on your nominations. This morning, I just have a few questions for Dr. Christine.

00:11Dr. Christine, you appeared on a podcast by 18-19, and this was very recently,

00:18in September of 2022, where you said the following, and I quote,

00:23society works best when men and women are fulfilling their roles, when they're doing

00:29what they're supposed to do, raising children and propagating the species. That fulfills the natural

00:36and moral law. Now, I have a question for you, because I also know that Project 2025 calls for

00:42the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health to focus on uplifting traditional gender roles,

00:49and so I want to know, Dr. Christine, I'm just curious. We have eight women who are serving,

00:53for example, on this committee in the United States Senate, and I wonder whether it is your

00:58perspective that we are fulfilling our natural and moral roles, working as senators instead of

01:04working in the home. Senator Olso-Brooks, thank you for being here. I'm sorry that we didn't have

01:09the opportunity to meet before this meeting, but thank you for your time today. So let me say that

01:13Project 2025, of course, I have nothing to do with that. I haven't even read through Project 2025,

01:19and of course, Project 2025 does not at all, in any way, shape, or form, dictate President Trump and

01:26his policy. Yeah, let me just interrupt you, Dr. Christine, because I do have limited time.

01:31My specific question is just about your quote, where you said you believe in these traditional

01:35gender roles, and so I wanted to know, how do you specifically plan to use your office to uplift

01:42gender, traditional gender roles? Well, absolutely. My role as the Assistant Secretary for Health,

01:48if confirmed, will be to work with the Secretary to make America healthy again. I think in terms of

01:54gender roles, an individual, a man or a woman, can do what they want to do. My wife is an Oxford-trained,

02:01very high-caliber lawyer. We don't have children together. I support Helena in that. I support a

02:08woman's choice to go ahead and pursue any career she might want, or a man. But my main goal is going

02:12to be to make America healthier again by supporting Secretary Kennedy and supporting our President.

02:18And I think this is a very important question. Again, this was not long ago, where you said you

02:22believe that women and men are supposed to be in specific roles, raising children and propagating the

02:27species. And you would be, sir, really responsible as well for implementing policies that uplift health

02:34issues for women in the United States. And so I want to make sure that you understand that this is

02:41going to be very important to so many people. I want to ask you about another area, for example,

02:46regarding teen pregnancy and whether you believe the teen pregnancy prevention programs are important.

02:52Well, ma'am, I believe that—I'm a biologist by training. I'm a scientist. I believe that young men and

02:59women should, when the age is appropriate, be educated about the biology and physiology of reproduction.

03:04I believe that when it comes to education regarding sexual intimacy, sexual intercourse,

03:10birth prevention, that is best in the purview of the parents. I strongly believe that.

03:15So teen pregnancy programs, for example, Alabama has an adolescent pregnancy prevention branch.

03:21And I wonder whether or not you believe that this kind of program is important.

03:26Again, I absolutely support that parents should be the individuals to discuss sexuality and those kinds of

03:33things with parents. No, I'm not asking about parents. I'm asking you whether or not you believe

03:37that these kinds of government-supported programs, and specifically this teen prevention pregnancy

03:44program, is important. Yes, I absolutely believe that that kind of education for kids comes from the

03:50parents' best. Okay, so you do not believe, for example, in the federal funding that would help

03:56help to support an important program like a teen pregnancy prevention program. And I note your own

04:03state helped, for example, Alabama dramatically reduce its teen birth rate over the past 30 years

04:10by 78 percent by using a program like that one. But you are saying now that you believe that that kind

04:16of program should be eliminated. Is that what you believe?

04:18Ma'am, what I believe is that as I support the Secretary to work to make America healthy again, we are going to do

04:24our utmost to make sure we pursue that agenda. We are certainly going to support the right of parents to make

04:31medical decisions for their kids. Yeah, I know, Dr. Christine, I'm asking you about, not about parents.

04:35We're here talking about the federal government today and whether or not these kinds of programs deserve

04:39federal funding. And so I assume from your response that you do not support the federal funding that

04:46supported programs like the one in Alabama that helped to reduce teen pregnancy by 78 percent, but

04:52that you would agree with eliminating a program like that. Is that correct?

04:56What I agree with is giving parents, they have the major control of when they discuss these things with their children.

05:03Okay, I yield. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

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