estimated 5,000 people<\/a> gathered at the state capitol in Lansing, Michigan on Monday chanting: Vagina. Vagina. <\/p>\nIn a video news piece, the Lansing City Pulse led with the words: Vaginas take over the Capitol. <\/p>\n
Women and men held signs saying \u2018My Vagina is Angry\u2019 and \u2018Team Vagina\u2019 to support Michigan Representative Lisa Brown after she was banned from speaking on the House floor for saying \u201cvagina\u201d during a debate about one of the most restrictive anti-choice laws in the country. <\/p>\n
During her speech last Wednesday, she said, \u201cFinally, Mr. Speaker, I\u2019m flattered that you\u2019re all so interested in my vagina, but \u2018no\u2019 means \u2018no.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The next day, House Republicans refused to allow the her to express her views on a school employee retirement bill. They silenced her on the final day of the legislative session before summer break. <\/p>\n
State Representative Mike Callton, a husband, father, and practicing chiropractor, told the Detroit News that the vagina comment was offensive. He said, \u201cIt was so offensive, I don\u2019t even want to say it in front of women. I would not say that in mixed company.\u201d <\/p>\n
It gets worse.<\/p>\n
During a recent television interview, Representative Mike Shirkey proudly said, \u201cUntil we completely eliminate abortions in Michigan and completely defund Planned Parenthood, we have work to do.\u201d <\/p>\n
Make no mistake. That is the ultimate goal of the extremists in statehouses across the country. <\/p>\n
The vagina war in Michigan got national attention, but several important details were missing from the coverage. According to the Guardian, representatives from Planned Parenthood were \u201cnot allowed\u201d to testify about the new law. Detroit News columnist Laura Berman reports that although a few men were allowed to testify against the bill, not one female opposition voice was heard. Not one woman. <\/p>\n
Last week, 200 Planned Parenthood supporters gathered at the Capitol to protest the legislation, which would require a doctor or assistant to perform a screening before an abortion to ensure the patient isn\u2019t being coerced. It would also ban abortions after 20 weeks and those are rare.<\/p>\n
The vote in the House was 70-39. It got support from every Republican and six Democrats. <\/p>\n
State Representative Barb Byrum introduced an amendment that would prohibit vasectomies for men unless they have proof of a medical emergency or a life-threatening condition. She was also silenced. <\/p>\n
Representatives Brown, Byrum, and their colleagues responded to the forced silence by performing \u201cThe Vagina Monologues\u201d on the capitol steps on Monday. Representative Brown said, \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t be legislating vaginas if you can\u2019t say vagina.\u201d <\/p>\n
The play\u2019s creator, Eve Ensler, showed up saying, no one can put the genie back in the bottle. The vaginas are out and we are here to stay. <\/p>\n
After the rally, Representative Brown tweeted: Words cannot express how amazing this event was. Thank you all for coming out tonight. Remember, V stands for victory, voice, and vagina.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m Rose Aguilar for Uprising. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Activist Beat with Rose Aguilar, host of Your Call on KALW in San Francisco is a weekly roundup of progressive activism that the mainstream media ignores, undercovers, or misrepresents. An estimated 5,000 people gathered at the state capitol in Lansing, Michigan on Monday chanting: Vagina. Vagina. In a video news piece, the Lansing City […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-program"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30282\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uprisingradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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The Activist Beat with Rose Aguilar, host of Your Call on KALW in San Francisco is a weekly roundup of progressive activism that the mainstream media ignores, undercovers, or misrepresents. <\/em><\/p>\n