A male Republican House leader in Michigan silenced two female Democratic state legislators on Thursday after the pair tried to advance a measure that would have reduced access to vasectomies.

While discussing a bill that would erode the availability of abortion, Reps. Barb Byrum and Lisa Brown introduced an amendment to apply the same regulations to vasectomies that GOP lawmakers wanted to add to abortion services. The debate grew heated, as Republicans sought to gravel down the women. Byrum was not permitted to speak in favor of the measure and Brown was repeatedly interrupted. “I’m flattered that you’re all so interested in my vagina, but no means no,” she said. The next day both were silenced. Watch their comments:

Majority Floor Leader Jim Stamas (R) was “uncomfortable with me saying vasectomy,” Byrum explained, noting that no one told her why she had been banned or how long it would last. “I can only assume it’s because I stood up for my district and women in Michigan yesterday,” she added.

Ari Adler, spokesman for House Speaker Jase Bolger (R), said the women “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.”

Earlier this week, Mitt Romney confirmed that he would only require insurance companies to provide coverage for Americans with pre-existing conditions if they recently had coverage, leaving millions of uninsured individuals in the lurch.

Romney would not extend pre-existing condition protections to all Americans. Instead, the states would be responsible for creating high-risk insurance pools that provide coverage to sick people who were turned away from coverage. From his campaign:

Fixing our health care system means making sure that every American, regardless of their health care needs, can find quality, affordable coverage. That is why Governor Romney supports reforms to protect those with pre-existing conditions from being denied access to a health plan while they have continuous coverage. And for those purchasing insurance for the first time, he supports reforms that empower states to make high risk pools more accessible by using cost reducing methods like risk adjustment and reinsurance.

But Obamacare already includes a temporary high-risk insurance pool for people with pre-existing conditions. And the GOP-inspired provision — the idea was part of Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) health care plan in 2008 — has failed to provide an adequate coverage solution. As Republicans themselves have pointed out, fewer people than expected have enrolled in the program and costs costs have been double what government officials expected because enrollees in the plan are older and tend to use more health care services. Without younger, healthier people to share the risk of the insurance plan, the premiums increase for those who enroll.

Or, as Romney himself explained to Jay Leno in March, insuring large pools of sick people is unsustainable. “You’ve got to get insurance when you are well and then if you get ill, you are going to be covered,” he told the Tonight Show host.

Though Mitt Romney and other Republicans have been claiming that the Affordable Care Act is costing American jobs, causing economic calamity and stifling small businesses, the Congressional Budget Office disagrees.

Today, Douglas Elmendorf, head of the CBO, became the latest expert to reject the GOP argument. He told reporters:

We don’t think that the health care law is having a significant impact on the economy today. There are a lot of pieces of the law, some unfolding today, and expectations that future changes in policy can matter, but we don’t think it is having a significant impact on the economy today.

This comes in the wake of comments from Sean Keehan, a senior economist with the Office of the Medicare Actuary, that “for the next three years, health-care spending is going to stay near its historic lows,” thanks in part to Obamacare. And their projections show that even adding 30 million Americans to health care rolls over the next few years, the law will control national expenditures.