Nice Girls Don't Say 'Vagina' -- What The Rep. Lisa Brown Controversy Is Really About

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169. Would the left be willing or able to eject that speaker from the floor, however?

And would that speaker be prohibited from addressing the floor for several days, is the question? And would their behavior be characterized as a "temper tantrum"?

Veiled characterizations of abortion rights as tantamount to murder--even rather explicit ones--get passed around all the time with little sanction. There was even a law proposed in Georgia that would directly have classified any miscarriages in which the mother could not prove her behavior did not play a role as "prenatal murder." That was the language used in the bill by Mr. Franklin, and one can assume in any legislative defense he may have mounted on the bill. Representative Franklin was not banned from speaking on the floor for his extreme and incendiary use of language.

Here's another story of a legislator (female as it happens) making statements equating abortion and murder, just this January. http://www.radioiowa.com/2012/01/18/legislator-cites-recent-child-murder-case-in-speaking-out-against-abortion/

Here is a link to her speech, as given in the Iowa legislature. http://caffeinatedthoughts.com/2012/01/betty-deboef-house-floor-speech-sanctity-of-life/

Her statements might have attracted negative attention by the pro-choice movement, but I have not encountered any calls to have her banned from speaking on the floor to which she was elected. Granted Iowa, Georgia, and Michigan are different states with different circumstances, but the portrait painted, of women with opinions different from that of the dominant group, being silenced for speaking out about issues that directly affect them if their speech is deemed, for whatever reason "inappropriate" is a problematic one.

Ultimately, I do not think the comments of these two women warranted silencing them.You can agree or disagree with the way that these two women chose to argue their case, but were their statements materially different than other over-the-top statements made in government debates around the country? If not, then why were they specifically ejected when others were not? Women are already a minority in political office; is it really fair to silence the few voices that we have based on selectively applied standards?