I have been a victim of rape, so I don't use the word lightly, but there's no other way to put it.
Really.
I'm not about to use soft language to meant to disguise or make palatable what Virginia is a governor's signature away from doing.
And Virginia's governor, Bob McDonnell, has said he will sign the legislation.
The FBI's definition of rape is
“Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.”
The instrument of the state sponsored, approved of and legalized rape is this, the transvaginal ultrasound probe.
Inserting something into the vagina of an unwilling woman is a violation in every sense of the word. But not to a majority of Virginia's Senate.
This week, the Senate passed a bill, largely along party lines, that would require a woman seeking an abortion to undergo an ultrasound and wait as long as a day for the procedure.
The ultrasound requirement may evoke images of the abdominal sonograms standard in most pregnancies, fuzzy black and white pictures conjured by a wand passed across a woman's stomach.
- THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
So lets remove the whole image in the mind of many of a wand innocently and non-invasively gliding along a pregnant woman's stomach.
THIS is what a transvaginal ultrasound is:
(I have no idea whether photobucket will declare these pics a s a violation of their TOS, as they did the pics in my dairy about the airport scanners.* But if they do the images can be found here (scroll down after the non-invasive ultrasounds)
The arrows indicate the movement the sonographer must make to make sure all areas of the uterus are examed. It is not a "simple" procedure, and it's not a pleasant one to deal with even in cases where they are just checking on a issue with the pregnancy (I have had one). The probe is larger than many people think it is (look at the pics). The invassiveness of this procedure, even in happy times cannot be overstated.
For a woman seeking a LEGAL procedure, abortion, it is medically unnecessary and unwanted. By the FBI own definition, it is rape. A rape the Virginia legislative deems okay because an abortion is a "lifestyle convinece."
Even as Del. Todd Gilbert (Shenandoah R-15) acknowledges that there are some "tragic human notes," he and his forced birther ilk, offer no remedy. Forced transvaginal ultrasounds for every woman in Virginia seeking an abortion.
She can't say "no." Even to save her own life, the Commonwealth(almost laughable now) of Virginia will rape her first.
And if rape is why she is seeking an abortion - she will get raped again. This time with the full force and might of a state government.
This bill also makes everyone, from the sonographer, by FBI defition, a rapist.
In my mind it also makes the members of the house and senate, to the governor who signs this bill into law, rapists (by-proxy).
Maybe that's what the "R" after Del. Todd Gilbert (Shenandoah R-15) means.
Last night Rachel Maddow almost couldn't contain herself. I am thankful for her coverage of this. I sat and watched, and felt sick and violated all over again. But she could not say what I am saying here.
Maybe the Commonwealth of Virginia is unaware of what they are doing, or in their quest to end abortions they see this as acceptable but they are about to make rape legal and state sponsored.
Any where else we'd decry it as a human rights violation.
(discussion of this law starts at about 5:38)
UPDATE:
There has been some comments about how this is hyperbole because a woman must "consent" to the transvaginal ultrasound.
Consent under coercion is NOT consent.
Please read plan9pub rec listed dairy on the same topic:
Let's call the Virginia law what it is: State mandated rape by proxy
both our diaries are good tandem dairies.
Other blogs:
State-Sanctioned Rape: Trans-Vaginal Ultrasound Laws in Virginia, Texas, and Iowa
State Rape in Virginia: New Law Just Like Texas's Intrusive Ultrasound Requirement
*no I haven't learned how to do the whole dk upload pic thing yet.