Idaho lawmaker legislating abortion thinks the stomach is connected to the vagina

Just gonna leave this here:

An Idaho lawmaker received a brief lesson on female anatomy after asking if a woman can swallow a small camera for doctors to conduct a remote gynecological exam.

The question Monday from Republican state Rep. Vito Barbieri came as the House State Affairs Committee heard nearly three hours of testimony on a bill that would ban doctors from prescribing abortion-inducing medication through telemedicine.

[…] Dr. Julie Madsen, a physician who said she has provided various telemedicine services in Idaho, was testifying in opposition to the bill. She said some colonoscopy patients may swallow a small device to give doctors a closer look at parts of their colon.

“Can this same procedure then be done in a pregnancy? Swallowing a camera and helping the doctor determine what the situation is?” Barbieri asked.

Madsen replied that would be impossible because swallowed pills do not end up in the vagina.

“Fascinating. That makes sense,” Barbieri said, amid the crowd’s laughter.

Rep. Barbieri later claimed he “was being rhetorical.” “I was trying to make the point that equalizing a colonoscopy to this particular procedure was apples and oranges….It was the response I wanted.” Whatever you say, dude.

Here’s the thing: A quote like this is just a particularly absurd illustration of the everyday reality that US lawmakers, with absolutely no expertise in medicine or public health, are regularly ignoring the scientific facts and advice of health professionals and passing laws that tell doctors how to practice medicine. Whether or not Rep. Barbieri actually thinks that the stomach is connected to the vagina, he for sure believes that he knows better than a physician whether it’s safe to provide abortions via telemedicine.

In reality, it is extremely safe, effective, and cost-effective. By increasing access to the procedure earlier in pregnancy, telemedicine results in improved health outcomes and is greatly appreciated by patients. Rep. Barbieri’s opposition to the practice is driven by his opposition to abortion in general, which he — like the rest of the anti-choice movement — wraps up in a veneer of concern for patient safety, while ignoring the consensus of the people who actually provide abortion care.

I do not blame anti-choice lawmakers from trying to impose their own beliefs about abortion on their constituencies, but pretending that they know better than health experts is an insult to the entire profession. And I think it’s long past time that the medical establishment — whether or not they provide abortions — fight back against the increasingly anti-medicine tactics of the anti-abortion movement, from politicizing health boards to mandating that doctors to lie to their patients.