Michigan House Republicans didn’t bar Rep. Lisa Brown (D) from speaking this week because she used the word “vagina” in a floor speech. They blocked her because they thought she made a rape reference, said Ari Adler, press secretary for Michigan House Speaker Jase Bolger (R).
“It has nothing to do with her using the word ‘vagina,’” Adler told TPM Friday. “The Speaker Protempore at the time was John Walsh. It was his judgment at the time that when she finished her statement by referencing her vagina, and then saying ‘no means no,’ that was drawing in a rape reference, and he felt that crossed the line.”
The issue started on Wednesday, when Brown said a package of abortion regulation bills would violate her Jewish religious beliefs and that abortions should be allowed in cases where it is required to save the life of the mother, according to the Detroit News.
“Finally, Mr. Speaker, I’m flattered that you’re all so interested in my vagina, but ‘no’ means ‘no,’” she said during a floor speech. On Thursday, the last day before a summer legislative recess, she wasn’t allowed to speak.
Brown told TPM on Friday that Republicans were essentially trying to place a “gag order” on her and the people she represents, adding that it was another battle in the “war on women.”
Adler said the decision was not political. “It was not because Rep. Brown was a woman, it was not because she was Jewish — she said that might be a problem — it had nothing to do with gender, had nothing to do with religion, it had nothing to do with the topic at hand,” he said. “It was done because of her actions and not maintaining the decorum of the House.”
Rep. Walsh’s office was not immediately available for comment.
Brown’s Wednesday speech is below:
David Taintor
David Taintor is TPM’s News Editor. He contributes to TPM’s Livewire coverage, among other areas. David is from Chanhassen, Minnesota, where, yes, it gets very cold. Reach him at taintor [at] talkingpointsmemo.com
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