Man who makes laws thinks stomach and vagina are connected

In the latest edition of “male politicians who don’t understand women’s bodies,” a Republican lawmaker from Idaho suggested a woman’s stomach was connected to her vagina, the AP reported.

That’s right. On Monday, while the Idaho House State Affairs Committee was debating the “Physician Physical Presence and Women Protection Act“—a bill that would ban doctors from prescribing the abortion pill through “telemedicine” (web cam exams), unless the doctor had already seen the patient—Rep. Vito Barbieri asked whether a woman could swallow a small camera so doctors could conduct a gynecological exam remotely.

He posed the question to Dr. Julie Madsen—an opponent of the bill—who clarified for everyone that no object, no matter how tiny, will end up in the vagina after being swallowed.

For the record, Barbieri, who sits on the board of a crisis pregnancy center in the state, does believe that telemedicine is great, just not when it comes to abortion: “I just want to point out that I think, from my perspective, telemedicine has great advantages,” Barbieri said. “However, there are certain examinations and procedures which require personal hands-on exams, and I think this is one of them.”

The bill advanced by a vote of 14-3. Those in favor of the bill argued that making it more difficult to obtain abortion prescriptions gives women more time to change their mind.

Taryn Hillin is Fusion’s love and sex writer, with a large focus on the science of relationships. She also loves dogs, Bourbon barrel-aged beers and popcorn — not necessarily in that order.