The progressive community often fails in its messaging because it lacks the ability to characterize a political issue in a short and memorable fashion. Consequently, the MSM delivers a muddled/incoherent/forgettable synopsis of our position(s) in the 40 seconds they devote to any given issue.
To wit: the Republican Neanderthals running the Virginia Sate Legislature recently passed a requirement that all women choosing to undergo an abortion MUST have an ultrasound performed 24 hours prior to the procedure.
Now forget that there is no medical standard of care that requires such a procedure.
By itself, the bill sounds no more than like another annoying obstacle in the path of women trying to exercise their right to a legal elective termination of a pregnancy.
However, the devil is in the details. The bill states that in order for the procedure to be performed with the informed consent of the woman:
The qualified medical professional performing fetal ultrasound imaging pursuant to subsection B shall offer the woman an opportunity to view and receive a printed copy of the ultrasound image and hear auscultation of fetal heart tone and shall obtain from the woman written certification that this opportunity was offered and whether or not it was accepted and, if applicable, verification that the pregnant woman lives at least 100 miles from the facility where the abortion is to be performed. A printed copy of the ultrasound image shall be maintained in the woman's medical record at the facility where the abortion is to be performed for the longer of (i) seven years or (ii) the extent required by applicable federal or state law.
D. For purposes of this section:
"Informed written consent" means the knowing and voluntary written consent to abortion by a pregnant woman of any age, without undue inducement or any element of force, fraud, deceit, duress, or other form of constraint or coercion by the physician who is to perform the abortion or his agent. The basic information to effect such consent, as required by this subsection, shall be provided by telephone or in person to the woman at least 24 hours before the abortion by the physician who is to perform the abortion, by a referring physician, or by a licensed professional or practical nurse working under the direct supervision of either the physician who is to perform the abortion or the referring physician; however, the information in subdivision 5 may be provided instead by a licensed health-care professional working under the direct supervision of either the physician who is to perform the abortion or the referring physician. This basic information shall include:
1. A full, reasonable and comprehensible medical explanation of the nature, benefits, and risks of and alternatives to the proposed procedures or protocols to be followed in her particular case;
2. An instruction that the woman may withdraw her consent at any time prior to the performance of the procedure;
3. An offer for the woman to speak with the physician who is to perform the abortion so that he may answer any questions that the woman may have and provide further information concerning the procedures and protocols;
4. A statement of the probable gestational age of the fetus at the time the abortion is to be performed and that fetal ultrasound imaging shall be performed prior to the abortion to confirm the gestational age.
The last provision is a doozy: in order to accurately image most first trimester fetuses, a
TRANSVAGINAL ULTRASOUND must be performed.
The physician performing the abortion and the woman requesting it HAVE NO CHOICE. Doesn't matter if the woman is sick, injured, or dying. Doesn't matter if the pregnancy is the result of rape. The law effectively mandates vaginal penetration with an ultrasound probe.
The physician who plans to perform the abortion and the woman requesting it have no choice. Failure to comply? The physician is subject to a $2500 fine:
Any physician who fails to comply with the provisions of this section shall be subject to a $2,500 civil penalty.
Call it what it is: STATE RAPE.