Raging Grannies tackle uterus controversy

The flap over the use of the word “uterus,” which almost certainly qualifies as the most bizarre Florida government event of the year, has drawn the attention of South Florida’s Raging Grannies. When the Raging Grannies weigh in on a topic, from the liberal perspective, they do it by song. “The Uterus Song” was penned by Vicki Ryder to the tune of “Bye-Bye Blackbird.”

It stems from an incident last month during a debate in the Florida House of Representatives. State Rep. Scott Randolph, D-Orlando, compared the Republican majority’s willingness to impose restrictions on abortion but reluctance to impose regulations on business. So, he suggested, if his wife incorporated her uterus as a business, that would stop the anti-abortion legislation.


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“It’s easy to practice an ideology of convenience,” he said. “If my wife incorporated her uterus, you all would say hands off. If my friends incorporated their bedroom, you’d say hands off. But now we’re standing here and we’re saying we’re going to increase regulation on a specific type of membership organization. And that’s unions.” House Speaker Dean Cannon chastised Randolph, through an intermediary, on the grounds that teenage pages could have heard him use the term.

Ryder said the controversy was a natural for the South Florida Raging Grannies. She founded the local chapter – it’s called a gaggle – in 2006 with members from Broward and Palm Beach counties. “It came about the way I write all my songs, just out of the sense of outrage about what’s going on in the body politic these days. Our rights seem to be disappearing and all of our taxes seem to be going to the corporations, and our public services seem to be deteriorating,” she said.