I’m trying to stay calm. Just when you think the politicization of female reproductive choice can’t get any worse, the state legislature of Virginia has proposed a new law requiring doctors to perform a trans-vaginal probe ultrasound for any woman seeking to have an abortion, and to report to her the status of the fetus prior to moving ahead with the abortion procedure. It is expected that if passed by the legislature Republican Governor Bob McDonnell will sign the bill into law.
Fortunately, the reaction against the bill has been fierce, and the bill’s passage has been delayed, at least for now.
Virginia’s conservatives have been emboldened by similar laws in Texas and Idaho also requiring trans-vaginal ultrasound before one can proceed with an abortion. As this article suggests, this type of legislation, including proposed laws granting ‘personhood’ at the moment of conception, are making their way across conservative-dominated state legislatures.
These lawmakers directly proclaim that branding a woman with a crimson capital “A” is not enough public shaming when that woman seeks to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. One Virginia legislator went on to say that because a woman seeking an abortion has already been “trans-vaginally penetrated” in order for her to become pregnant, further transgression by a vibrator-shaped medical contraption should be no big deal.