Brown later defended her comments in a press conference. Mich. pol's vagina monologue

A Michigan lawmaker was blocked from speaking on the state House floor as punishment for referencing her private parts in an earlier speech.

In a Wednesday speech on a controversial bill that would further regulate abortions, Rep. Lisa Brown concluded, “Finally Mr. Speaker, I’m flattered that you’re all so interested in my vagina, but ‘no’ means ‘no,’” according to The Detroit News. A day later, House Republicans refused to allow Brown, a Democrat, to weigh in on a school employee retirement bill.


A spokesman for Michigan Speaker James Bolger released a statement explaining that Brown and fellow Democratic Rep. Barb Byrum “will not be recognized to speak on the House floor today after being gaveled down for their comments and actions yesterday that failed to maintain the decorum of the House of Representatives.” (Byrum had tried to introduce an amendment to ban vasectomies except when one’s required to save a man’s life.)

Brown defended her comments in a press conference.

“Maybe they are banning me because I dared say ‘vagina,’ the correct, medical name of a part of a woman’s anatomy these lawmakers are trying to regulate,” she said. “I’m outraged. I’m outraged that this legislative body not only wants to dictate what women can do, but what we can say.”