The state of Virginia is currently trying to pass a new bill regulating a women’s access to abortions. Until February 23, 2012 Governor McDonnell fully indorsed the new abortion bill that would require women to undergo a vaginal ultrasound, even without consent, before having an abortion. However, due to national attention, Governor McDonnell has shifted his views to a abdominal ultrasound (required in most if not all states), instead of a forced vaginal probe ultrasound. Media speculates that this shift only occurred because of protests in the state and, “One Democrat was prompted to denounce it as a “rape” bill” (Tavernise) and “the requirement that the probe be inserted vaginally was tantamount to “state-sponsored rape.” (Tavernise and Eckholm). However, women in Virginia are not out of the woods yet. According to The New York Times, there is a, “companion bill in the State Senate that has language identical to that in the old version” (Tavernise). Both pro-choice and pro-life advocates are extremely invested in this bill because it will either greatly help pro-life organizations to block women from receiving abortions and greatly detriment pro-choice organizations from helping women get the care they need. Both sides of the debate have spoken out on the bill saying it is, “a rule that anti-abortion forces hope will cause some women to change their minds but that women’s advocates call an effort to shame women and interfere with their privacy” (Tavernise and Eckholm). As well as being extremely invasive at the time, the bill will force to women to relive her abortion over and over by requiring, “that a printout of the ultrasound image be placed in a woman’s medical record” (Tavernise and Eckholm). Republicans simply argue that a woman is already invading her body with the abortion, so why not require a vaginal ultrasound as a prerequisite.
Is it hypocritical for the United States to step in and tell other countries how to treat and respect women when laws here are just as horrendous? Should politicians, especially men, have the most highly regarded opinion on women's health?
So glad we're going to talk about this. There's a strange wave of women's health bills this winter all of a sudden, and they're rather troubling.
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