24 replies to this topic

[SilentLoner]

Virginia’s Proposed Ultrasound Law Is an Abomination

Under the new legislation, women who want an abortion will be forcibly penetrated for no medical reason. Where’s the outrage?
By Dahlia Lithwick

http://www.slate.com...ical_reason.htm

This week, the Virginia state Legislature passed a bill that would require women to have an ultrasound before they may have an abortion. Because the great majority of abortions occur during the first 12 weeks, that means most women will be forced to have a transvaginal procedure, in which a probe is inserted into the vagina, and then moved around until an ultrasound image is produced.

As an editorial in the Virginian-Pilot put it recently, “Under any other circumstances, forcing an unwilling person to submit to a vaginal probing would be a violation beyond imagining. Requiring a doctor to commit such an act, especially when medically unnecessary, and to submit to an arbitrary waiting period, is to demand an abrogation of medical ethics, if not common decency.”

l

And this state is neigboring mine. Ah fuck.

Edited by SilentLoner, 17 February 2012 - 01:47 PM.

[zomberina]

Seriously, wow! They act like being penetrated is no big deal if you are sexually active. / Which is FAR from the truth, especially if we are talking about rape or abuse victims here.

[ConureDelSol]

And this state is neigboring mine. Ah fuck.

And I live in this state. Double fuck.

Can't tell you how much Facebook has blown up over this.

[blackpudd1n]

Wow. Just... wow.

I just had one of those ultrasounds, and it was completely my choice to have it or not. It's like the difference between consentual and non-consentual intercourse.

And what about women who have just experienced the trauma of rape, who then find out they are pregnant, and want an abortion? They're seriously going to violate that woman all over again? WHAT THE FUCK??!!

[ConureDelSol]

Wow. Just... wow.

I just had one of those ultrasounds, and it was completely my choice to have it or not. It's like the difference between consentual and non-consentual intercourse.

And what about women who have just experienced the trauma of rape, who then find out they are pregnant, and want an abortion? They're seriously going to violate that woman all over again? WHAT THE FUCK??!!

Exactly. It is basically making rape okay. They seriously have no choice. In addition, this is going to cost Planned Parenthood and their patients tons of money and time. The House also passed a "personhood" bill that would define life as beginning at conception. It still has to pass through the Senate to be a law, so I'm crossing my fingers.

[blackpudd1n]

Wow. Just... wow.

I just had one of those ultrasounds, and it was completely my choice to have it or not. It's like the difference between consentual and non-consentual intercourse.

And what about women who have just experienced the trauma of rape, who then find out they are pregnant, and want an abortion? They're seriously going to violate that woman all over again? WHAT THE FUCK??!!

Exactly. It is basically making rape okay. They seriously have no choice. In addition, this is going to cost Planned Parenthood and their patients tons of money and time. The House also passed a "personhood" bill that would define life as beginning at conception. It still has to pass through the Senate to be a law, so I'm crossing my fingers.

This absolutely horrifies me. What is wrong with these people, and why do people take them seriously enough to vote them into power??!!

And to think I got upset when the put gst on tampons. Fucking hell!! It's like watching the regression of a society.

What will pull America down? Imbeciles like this. And they think the rest of the world takes them seriously? What a fucking joke!

[par4dcourse]

Misogynistic, barbaric, past any bounds of reason. Typical religious right grandstanding. I think they secretly long for Burkas.

[Gneekly]

This is just sick and wrong. No one should be forced to undergo that procedure given it's cost and what they are forcing someone to do. What about women who have decided not to give birth for financial reasons or who know their child is going to die shortly after birth. I wouldn't want to be put in that position.

[blackpudd1n]

It's 2012, and we still are fighting to be treated as human beings. When will it end?

[SilentLoner]

Check out this little gem:

Janet Howell, Virginia State Senator, Attaches Erectile Dysfunction Rectal Exam Amendment To Anti-Abortion Bill
By Laura Bassett

To protest a bill that would require women to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion, Virginia State Sen. Janet Howell (D-Fairfax) on Monday attached an amendment that would require men to have a rectal exam and a cardiac stress test before obtaining a prescription for erectile dysfunction medication.

"We need some gender equity here," she told HuffPost. "The Virginia senate is about to pass a bill that will require a woman to have totally unnecessary medical procedure at their cost and inconvenience. If we're going to do that to women, why not do that to men?"

http://www.huffingto...tml?view=screen

Of course they voted against that one.

Edited by SilentLoner, 18 February 2012 - 02:56 PM.

[buffettphan]

Rape with an inanimate object is still a crime -- at least for now -- even here in Virginia.

... those GOPer who voted "Yes" to shove a probe up a woman's vagina without her consent are guilty of

"Conspiring To Rape Women with Inanimate Object"

which is a Criminal Violation of Virginia Statute:

§ 18.2-67.2.

"Object Sexual Penetration; Penalty" and subject to Prison Time...

http://www.dailykos....men-NO-KIDDING-


I'd love to see all those co-conspirators serving time.

[mymistake]

Not to take away from the outrageousness of this law but wouldn't the second trimester allow for a normal ultrasound? If so a woman could wait till the second T as a work around. (If she could afford it. Yeah, the proposed law is outrageous.)

Personally I see abortion as an act of mercy to the fetus and as that if you are going to have one it's better to terminate in the first trimester. That's not a soap box but intended only as food for thought.

[blackpudd1n]

Check out this little gem:

Janet Howell, Virginia State Senator, Attaches Erectile Dysfunction Rectal Exam Amendment To Anti-Abortion Bill
By Laura Bassett

To protest a bill that would require women to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion, Virginia State Sen. Janet Howell (D-Fairfax) on Monday attached an amendment that would require men to have a rectal exam and a cardiac stress test before obtaining a prescription for erectile dysfunction medication.

"We need some gender equity here," she told HuffPost. "The Virginia senate is about to pass a bill that will require a woman to have totally unnecessary medical procedure at their cost and inconvenience. If we're going to do that to women, why not do that to men?"

http://www.huffingto...tml?view=screen

Of course they voted against that one.

I like this woman. A LOT!!!

[Akheia]

Did you guys miss this gem from <ahref="http://www.slate.com...tml">Slate</A>?

Proponents seem to be of the view that once a woman has allowed a man to penetrate her body once, her right to bodily autonomy has ended. . . Virginia Democrat Del. David Englin, who opposes the bill, [recalled] one conversation with a GOP lawmaker who told him that women had already made the decision to be "vaginally penetrated when they got pregnant." (I confirmed with Englin that this quote was accurate.)

And this: <a href="http://www.sparkpeop...006">Pro-choice goodness</A> to balance out the ickie misinformation and utter disregard for citizens' sovereignty. That whole thing going on in Virginia is so vile. Par4dcourse, the anti-choice lobby doesn't make any secret at all of their desire to make themselves a nice Christian Taliban and invoke Sharia law on the country; they just call it by different names. Step one really is to eliminate reproductive freedom; after all, safe and easy abortion laws and a secular environment saves babies, but it's not about saving babies--it's about bringing back a mythical 1950s Leave It To Beaver society where everybody loved going to church and <s>sluts</s> women kept their legs closed and knew their place.

I'm thankful today that local women are protesting this law and forcing the makers of it to reconsider. It's insane that we are still even having this conversation in 2012.

[Akheia]

I apologize for HTML formatting issues; I didn't know how to format for this board and thought I could just write the code on the fly. Will try to figure it out for next time.

[SilentLoner]

^I saw that one unfortunately. Sickening, really. But there has been some good news:

Hundreds of Protesters Form Silent Chain Outside Virginia Capitol: Virginia House puts off ultrasound vote



Virginia's lawmakers have had an extremely busy month pissing all over the rights of women in the state. And today, when lawmakers made their way into or out of the capitol, they were greeted by over 1,000 protesters— mostly women— linking arms and standing silently in protest.

The Virginia House was scheduled to vote today on a bill that would require women seeking abortions to undergo a medically unnecessary transvaginal ultrasound, a measure that is both blatantly rapey and massively unpopular— according to a new poll, 55% of Virginians are opposed to the measure.

The vote on the Mandatory Vaginal Probe bill was postponed.

http://maddowblog.ms...ultrasound-vote

http://jezebel.com/5...tag=roe-v-world

Edited by SilentLoner, 21 February 2012 - 11:05 PM.

[BrotherJosh]

And the Christian Right is all in a frenzy over Sharia Law in the US? Hmmmm....

[blackpudd1n]

I joined the event, even though I'm here in Oz. I figure the more people that see it, the more it will get shared around. I'm going to get my dad to do the same- he has more friends in more countries than I do. Awareness needs to raised 100 notches. These bastards need to feel international pressure.

[ConureDelSol]

^I saw that one unfortunately. Sickening, really. But there has been some good news:

Hundreds of Protesters Form Silent Chain Outside Virginia Capitol: Virginia House puts off ultrasound vote



Virginia's lawmakers have had an extremely busy month pissing all over the rights of women in the state. And today, when lawmakers made their way into or out of the capitol, they were greeted by over 1,000 protesters— mostly women— linking arms and standing silently in protest.

The Virginia House was scheduled to vote today on a bill that would require women seeking abortions to undergo a medically unnecessary transvaginal ultrasound, a measure that is both blatantly rapey and massively unpopular— according to a new poll, 55% of Virginians are opposed to the measure.

The vote on the Mandatory Vaginal Probe bill was postponed.

http://maddowblog.ms...ultrasound-vote

http://jezebel.com/5...tag=roe-v-world

I would've been there had I known about a week earlier. I could have taken the day off to go to the protest. I have friends who were there though.

[SilentLoner]

Good news!

Virginia House Passes, But Governor Rejects Mandatory Ultrasound Legislation

Virginia's state government has angered vaginas and doctors alike with a proposal that would have required many women seeking abortions to undergo a mandatory vaginal ultrasound before undergoing the procedure. The Senate passed it, and today the General Assembly passed it with the provision that vaginal ultrasounds are optional. The governor had joined in expressing his wholehearted support of the measure. Until today.

Bob McDonnell, a Republican, had previously said that he'd unequivocally support the law that would have required ultrasounds for all women seeking abortions. But today, he announced that upon review, it actually was sort of gross that the state would mandate further invasive procedure on pregnant women.

http://jezebel.com/5...on?popular=true

But don't get comfortable yet, folks. Similar laws are being considered in Pennsylvania and Alabama.