Virginia Republicans want women to be raped with this device.
This is a transvaginal ultrasonic probe. Normally, it is a valuable diagnostic device that promotes women’s health. It is used by putting it into a woman’s vagina. The Virginia legislature now requires its use on women seeking abortions, whether or not she or her doctor agree, and for no medical reason. The only motivation for this bill is to obtain and force the woman to look at ultrasound pictures of the fetus, hear possible fetal heart sounds, and get a detailed description of the fetus’ gestational development, with the idea that she will then be dissuaded from having the abortion.
So I’m thinking that what the Republicans who have rammed this through (yes, I’m aware of the imagery) have done is legalized “rape with an object for political purposes.” Yes, I think the courts will have something to say about this. But that doesn’t make it any less extreme, or any less disgusting or shameful.
The bill requires that women will be furnished with a list of facilities that will perform the rape at no charge. I suspect that no insurance company will be willing to pay for the procedure (since it’s not medically necessary), so the facilities will just so happen to be the phony “pregnancy crisis centers,” which are scams by anti-abortion fanatics that act as medical facilities, but really only exist to coerce women into not having abortions.
Virginia’s governor, the execrable Bob McDonnell, has said that he plans to sign the bill into law. Bob is term limited out of his office, and he really wants to be picked as someone’s Vice President. So he’s all for any insane right-wing idea that will give him a boost. Let’s hope he pays a serious political price for this abomination.
