Men With Breasts?': PA State Rep. Slams Female GOP Leaders Supporting Mandatory Ultrasound

Mandatory ultrasound bills seem to be distinguishing themselves as the newest frontier in the war over abortion here in the United States.

The controversial "Women's Right to Know" bill under consideration in Pennsylvania would require that a woman have an ultrasound before being permitted to have an abortion. The notion has so enraged Democratic State Rep. Babette Josephs that she has openly lashed out at Republican women who support the measure.

At a rally on Monday, Josephs wondered aloud if the women who had co-sponsored the contentious bill were simply "men with breasts." The quip was made at a political rally being held by the Lancaster County Democratic Committee. She launched into her tirade by accusing Republicans in charge of Pennsylvania's Senate and House of turning the state into a "laboratory for the right-wing." The GOP, she contends, wants to "experiment on" women.

PennLive.com provides more about Josephs' controversial words on the matter:

...she took specific aim at women lawmakers who co-sponsored the ultrasound bill, asking rhetorically, "I do not understand how a woman in this Legislature can say to herself: 'I'm not capable of making my own health decisions... but I can get elected and make them for somebody else.'

"What is wrong with these women? What are they thinking about?" Josephs continued. "Are they women? Or are they men with breasts?"

Ironically, the Pennsylvania ultrasound bill has been shelved indefinitely by House leaders, in part because of outcries by more moderate GOP lawmakers who don't want to deal with it in their election year.

Watch her comments, below:

The Republican politicians she was targeting with her hard-hitting words were less than content with her tone as well as the allegations presented within her very public statements.

"I think it's sad, and certainly disrespectful, to have to describe opponents to your opinion of a bill by attacking and throwing names around," Republican Rep. Kathy Rapp said.

See Rapp defend the bill in a video posted earlier this year:

Rep. RoseMarie Swanger, a GOP member and a co-sponsor, echoed these sentiments.

"I am a woman, and just because I disagree with her on certain women's issues doesn't make me a man," she said. "We can have different points of view, but we don't have to insult each other."

(H/T: Weasel Zippers)