During a debate over abortion legislation Monday between Idaho lawmakers, Republican state representative Vito Barbieri asked whether it would be possible for a woman to swallow a small camera, so that doctors might perform a remote gynecological examination (presumably, à la capsule endoscopy).
Above: Vito Barbieri | Credit: Matt Cilley/AP
According to the Associated Press, Barbieri's question "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 was testifying in opposition to the bill when Barbieri asked the question. 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.
When he's not inquiring into the plausibility of anatomical impossibilities, Barbieri reportedly sits on the board of a crisis pregnancy center in northern Idaho. Damn.
H/t @seelix