Idaho Rep Vito Barbieri displayed a stunning ignorance of female anatomy recently, when he expressed his belief that there is a direct route from the mouth to the vagina. The question came after testimony on a bill that would ban doctors from prescribing abortion-inducing medication through tele-medicine. It is Idaho, where they would like to stamp out all decisions made by women about their own bodies. The abortion inducing medicine is the ‘morning – after pill’ which should be acceptable to right-wingers, but they would outlaw ‘abortion’ at the birth control stage if left to their own devices.
Barbieri discussed colonoscopies with Dr. Julie Madsen, who was in attendance to testify in opposition to the bill.
After learning that cameras can be used in lieu of invasive colonoscopies,Barbieri felt prompted to pursue his line of reasoning by asking Dr. Madsen, “Can this same procedure then be done in a pregnancy? Swallowing a camera and helping the doctor to determine what the situation is?”
It was then Dr. Madsen’s duty to inform him that the procedure cannot be done in pregnancy, “Simply because when you swallow a pill it would not end up in the vagina.”
The reply provoked laughter, even in Barbieri’s home court. Unfazed, he pronounced the information to be “Fascinating” adding somewhat unecesariliy, “That certainly makes sense doctor.”
Barbieri has been the focus of much derision in the days since his infamous display. In his own defense, he issued a word salad-style statement, claiming he had planned in advance to ask that question, and implying it was part of his crafty strategy to look like an idjit – er…Something.