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You would think the answer is obvious - of course they shouldn't. However, the Virginia House passed a bill 63-36 that mandates women get an unnecessary transvaginal ultrasound in an attempt to shame women going to get an abortion.
One article explained it like this:
The ultrasound legislation would constitute an unprecedented government mandate to insert vaginal ultrasonic probes into women as part of a state-ordered effort to dissuade them from terminating pregnancies, legislative opponents noted.
"We're talking about inside a woman's body," Del. Charnielle Herring, a Democrat, said in an emotional floor speech. "This is the first time, if we pass this bill, that we will be dictating a medical procedure to a physician."
The conservative Family Foundation hailed the ultrasound measure as an "update" to the state's existing informed consent laws "with the most advanced medical technology available."
This is totally medically unnecessary invasive procedure. It serves no purpose other than to humiliate and shame women and intimidate them from choosing a legal medical procedure.
Speaking in support of the bill, one delegate said:
"We hear the same song over there. The very tragic human notes that are often touched upon involve extreme examples," said [Todd] Gilbert, R-Shenandoah. "But in the vast majority of these cases, these are matters of lifestyle convenience."
Even if you don't agree with abortion, I don't know how you can see this as anything more than a draconian, unnecessary procedure that invades a woman's privacy and rights. This isn't something a woman can say 'no' too either. They will be required by law to submit to this procedure if they wish to go ahead with their lawful abortion.
The House also passed an amendment that declares life begins at conception. And they aren't the first House to do that and I doubt they will be the last. Despite warnings from the medical community, the GOP controlled Oklahoma Senate has passed the same sort of bill.
The Oklahoma Senate has overwhelmingly approved an anti-abortion "personhood" bill that declares life begins at conception, despite objections from the medical community that the bill could have dire unintended consequences.
and further down...
The bill is opposed by the Oklahoma State Medical Association, which represents about 5,000 doctors and medical students in the state.
Oklahoma City reproductive endocrinologist Dr. Eli Reshef described the bill as an "embarrassment."
So let me get this straight - the medical community (those people trained in medicine and the body) are overwhelmingly against such a bill, but the dumb-ass politicians think they know better?
This is clearly a case of the GOP sending another volley against women's rights. Hopefully, women and men who support women's rights, return fire.
