A veteran getting regular medical treatment at an urgent care recognized the nurse asking a new question about IUDs, birth control, and other contraceptives. In a video with over 2.4 million views, Candace (@squidmoo101) explained how she noticed the new question felt invasive.
“I’m at the VA Urgent Care for unrelated reasons, and the intake nurse asks me the normal questions [like] are you pregnant? When was your last period?” Candace recalled. “And then she says, ‘We have to ask this as well now. Is there anything physically stopping you from being pregnant?’”
Candace thought the question might be a joke at first. But the nurse asked again: “Is there anything physically preventing you from having a child?”
Candace asked if it was a new question due to the Trump administration, but the nurse refused to clarify. She told them what type of birth control she was using. The nurse had to ask multiple times whether Candace was physically capable of having children, which Candace answered—but hesitantly.
Many people considered this addition to the regular lineup of questions an invasion of privacy, especially considering recent changes to women’s health policies across the country.
One commenter wrote, “The last time I had my youngest teenage daughter at the doctor, I told them we would no longer answer the question, ‘when was your last period.’ The nurse looked at me like I was crazy. I politely said, ‘Unless either one of my girls have issues with their periods, answering that question isn’t necessary.’ It took her [a] minute to get what I was saying.”
Is there a new policy for this question?
There isn’t any specific, enforced policy from the Trump administration that requires nurses to ask this question. However, there have been sweeping changes to limit women’s reproductive freedom in recent months.
In June 2025, the Trump administration revoked the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), which requires hospitals to provide emergency abortions as a way of stabilizing patients.
The Handmaid’s Tale
Many commenters online compared the situation to The Handmaid’s Tale. This is a book written by Margaret Atwood that explores a “dystopian,” patriarchal society. Many Trump administration critics have compared recent policies from the White House to Atwood’s titular novel.
The Handmaid’s Tale documents the story of a handmaiden, Offred, a rare fertile woman in a society plagued by infertility who is enslaved and forced to reproduce to “preserve society.”
Similar cases, such as Adriana Smith’s in Georgia, are popping up across the United States.
In February, doctors in Georgia made the decision to keep 30-year-old Smith artificially alive to move forward with a barely viable pregnancy due to the state’s heartbeat law. Because the pregnancy had surpassed six weeks, the fetus gained “fetal personhood.”
A similar event happened in the television adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale, where a handmaiden, Ofmathew, was left brain-dead but kept alive for months to give birth despite legally being dead.
In June, doctors delivered the baby via C-section. Smith was taken off life support four days later.
One commenter wrote, “I often wondered if the Handmaid’s Tale is all one big conspiracy that has been planned out for decades. like what if the book and the show was just a way to desensitize us from its ideals and see who’s for or against it now they want to carry it through.”
Another added, “Same questions were asked to women/ female presenting patients in the Handmaid’s Tale. Run, before you can’t.”
@squidmoo101 ♬ original sound – Candace ?
The Mary Sue has reached out to Candace via TikTok direct message for more information. We also reached out to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
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