The setting was the Idaho House State Affairs Committee. The subject was the “Physician Physical Presence and Women Protection Act.” The bill would require a doctor to physically examine a woman before prescribing an abortion pill, and disallowing a telemedicine consult as a substitute for an in-person meeting. The question came from Idaho Rep. Vito Barbieri (R).

During the debate, the Idaho lawmaker asked if it would be possible for a woman to swallow a tiny camera in order for a doctor to remotely conduct a gynecological exam, similar to what can be done for a colonoscopy. Julie Madsen, a doctor who opposes the bill, explained that “it can’t be done, simply because, if you swallow a pill, it won’t end up in the vagina.”

Barbieri’s response was “Fascinating. That certainly makes sense doctor.”

Madsen’s testimony that a chemical abortion is much safer than may other procedures, including a polyp removal, triggered the exchange. The bill does not outlaw chemical abortions, but requires a doctor to examine a woman before prescribing one. This would ban the use of telemedicine to prescribe an abortion pill and would also require an in-person follow-up appointment.

A telemedicine appointment would require a patient to go to a clinic where an ultrasound would be done. A doctor who is somewhere else would review that ultrasound and talk to the woman by camera before prescribing the drug, a practice currently only done in a couple of states. Planned Parenthood has looked into offering the service in other locations.

Opponents of the bill say there is no medical reason for the law, and that lawmakers are interfering in a way that would never happen with any other procedure. They say it would hurt women in rural areas, who have less access to doctors.

Rep. Linden Bateman, R-Idaho Falls, said the bill would most likely reduce the number of abortions, saying lawmakers should protect unborn children. The committee has voted 13-4 to send the bill to the House and recommend that it pass. All Republicans were in support. All Democrats were opposed.