No one will be surprised to learn that Vice President Mike Pence is not a loose, casual, fun-lovin’ guy. But many people were surprised to read this little tidbit in Ashley Parker’s recent Post profile of Pence’s wife, Karen: “In 2002, Mike Pence told the Hill that he never eats alone with a woman other than his wife and that he won’t attend events featuring alcohol without her by his side, either.”

It’s easy to make jokes about, and it’s easy to argue that this is nobody’s business but the Pences’. But there’s a deeply troubling worldview at work here, one that has profound implications for policy.

Let’s take just a moment to consider this pair of rules Mike Pence has for himself. He obviously thinks that every interaction he has with a woman is so sexually charged that it’s safe to be around them only if there are other people there, too. Unless someone might be drinking, in which case even the presence of a crowd isn’t enough to prevent . . . something from happening. There’s little distance between that perspective and that of the ultra-Orthodox Jews who refuse to sit next to a woman on an airplane, or the fundamentalist Muslims who demand that women be covered head to toe to contain the unstoppable sexual allure that renders men unable to control their urges.

With men, Pence can have complex relationships that traverse work and social contexts, build trust, and eventually help their careers. A woman who hoped Pence would be a mentor to her, on the other hand, wouldn’t be able to avail herself of those opportunities, since he can’t even have lunch with her.

Any ambitious woman can tell you how this is repeated in workplaces all over the country every day: The men in the office go out for drinks, have meals together and play golf, and the women have to fight to be included in places where deals are made and careers are advanced.

This is all getting translated into policy. Republicans are preparing yet again to defund Planned Parenthood. All over the country, Republican lawmakers are moving to restrict women’s rights in ways that treat them as vessels for childbearing who are unworthy of their own autonomy. In Iowa, Republicans introduced a bill that would not only ban all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, but also require any woman under the age of 18 or any unmarried woman of any age to get her parents’ permission before getting an abortion.

In Arkansas, the governor just signed a bill requiring doctors to ask a woman seeking an abortion whether she knows the sex of the fetus. If she says yes, the doctor has to then conduct an investigation on the “entire pregnancy history of the woman” to see if her reasons for getting the abortion are good enough. This follows on a law just passed in Texas that allows doctors to lie to women seeking abortions by telling them their fetus is healthy when it is actually suffering from some kind of anomaly or deformity.

You’ve may have heard the expression “the personal is political.” The choices we make and the conditions of our lives have broader meaning for the society we create. On March 30, Pence went to the Senate to break a 50-50 tie. The subject? Denying Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood. There’s no doubt plenty more in store.

Paul Waldman is the senior writer for The American Prospect, which aims to advance liberal and progressive goals through reporting, analysis, and debate.