Crazy Michigan Republicans Rule ‘Vagina’ an Offensive Word

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Vaginagate is alive and well in Michigan as two female members were banned from addressing the house of representatives after one used the word “vagina” and the other tried to argue for regulating vasectomies during a debate over a controversial anti-abortion bill.

The house bill, which was passed by 70 votes to 39, will introduce new rules and insurance requirements for abortion providers, make it an offense to force a woman to have an abortion, and regulate the disposal of fetal remains.

It is part of a package of proposed legislation that has been described by critics as one of the most hardline recent attempts at passing anti-abortion legislation in the US.

Lisa Brown – the Democratic state representative for West Bloomfield in Michigan – found herself gagged after house Republicans took exception to her language.

Brown, who has three children, said that the bill’s proposals ran contrary to her Jewish beliefs. But it was the manner in which how she concluded her speech: on Wednesday that infuriated Republicans.

“Mr Speaker, I’m flattered that you’re all so interested in my vagina, but ‘no’ means ‘no,'” she said.

Her use of the word “vagina” led house Republicans to prohibit her from speaking on school employee retirement bill.

According tothe Detroit News, the majority floor leader, Jim Stamas, ruled that Brown’s comments had violated the decorum of the house.

Another Republican, Nashville, MI, representative Mike Callton, added: “What she said was offensive. It was so offensive I don’t even want to say it in front of women. I would not say that in mixed company.”

Brown expressed her incredulity at the ban at a quickly arranged press conference. “If I can’t say the word vagina, why are we legislating [on] vaginas?” she asked. “What language should I use?”

“Maybe they are banning me because I dared say ‘vagina,’ the correct, medical name of a part of a woman’s anatomy these lawmakers are trying to regulate,” she said. “I’m outraged. I’m outraged that this legislative body not only wants to dictate what women can do, but what we can say. We are all adults here.”

Barb Byrum, the a fellow Democratic state representative for Onondaga, also caused a disturbance on the floor of the house after Republicans refused to allow her to introduce an amendment to the bill that would ban men having vasectomies unless the procedure was needed to save their lives – a key clause of the anti-abortion bill. She was ruled out of order after protesting that she had not been allowed to speak on her proposal.

“If we truly want to make sure children are born, we would regulate vasectomies,” Byrum told reporters.

On Thursday, Ari Adler, a spokesman for the Republican speaker of the house, said Brown and Byrum would not be allowed to speak on the floor of the house that day because of their conduct on Wednesday.

Their “comments and actions”, he said, had “failed to maintain the decorum of the house of representatives”.

However, both women hit back at house Republicans, accusing them of censorship and misogyny.

“Both Representative Byrum and I were gavelled down without cause yesterday while voicing our opposition to the Republican’s war on women here in Michigan,” Brown told the Detroit Free Press. “Regardless of their reasoning, this is a violation of my First Amendment rights and directly impedes my ability to serve the people who elected me into office.”

Byrum said she had been ignored and prevented from speaking on an amendment that would hold men and women to the same reproductive standards.

“Now I am being silenced for standing up for women,” she said. “This is yet another example of this Republican majority’s misogynistic and cowardly tactics.”

The package of bills as a whole aims to introduce tough new insurance and licensing requirements for clinics and ban abortions that take place more than 20 weeks after conception, except for when it might save a woman’s life. It also wants to regulate the use of the abortion pill mifepristone and set new guidelines for the disposal of a fetus.

Critics of the proposed legislation say it is an assault on women’s rights and could endanger women by making abortions harder to get in Michigan.

Many thanks to The Guardian for their contributions to this story.

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Professor Mike

Professor Mike is a left-leaning, dog loving, political junkie. He has written dozens of articles for Substack, Medium, Simily, and Tribel. Professor Mike has been published at Smerconish.com, among others. He is a strong proponent of the environment, and a passionate protector of animals. In addition he is a fierce anti-Trumper. Take a moment and share his work.
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11 years ago

It turns out, it’s not just wrong wing men who have a problem with that word. I typed it, numerous times, as a Facebook post, and offended some delicate widdle liberal male “friends” of mine. I betcha if I typed penis over and over again, there would be absolutely no problem whatsoever. Good for Lisa Brown and SHAME on anyone who thinks the word “vagina” is anything but a word to describe a place few men understand, and even fewer take the time to really explore. Which is why it makes so many men so incredibly uncomfortable. Sorry, I am really pissed off today. Rant endeth.

Reply to  Erin Nanasi
11 years ago

Go girl ! I’m with you! Maybe the GOP would rather here the two “c” words.

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