Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA) has backed off the most outrageous aspect of his state's new rub-their-nose-in-it anti-abortion bill. (Emphasis mine.)
"I believe there is no need to direct by statute that further invasive ultrasound procedures be done. Mandating an invasive procedure in order to give informed consent is not a proper role for the state. No person should be directed to undergo an invasive procedure by the state, without their consent, as a precondition to another medical procedure. For this reason, I have recommended to the General Assembly a series of amendments to this bill. I am requesting that the General Assembly amend this bill to explicitly state that no woman in Virginia will have to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound involuntarily. I am asking the General Assembly to state in this legislation that only a transabdominal, or external, ultrasound will be required to satisfy the requirements to determine gestational age."
The bill still treats women like criminal suspects and tries to make what is already an unpleasant experience even moreso, but at least they've backed off, for the moment, on the state-mandated rape clause.
Let's not forget, though, that it passed both houses of the Virginia legislature with that mandate intact, and it took a firestorm of national publicity (and probably some state lawyers screaming at the top of their lungs) to get the governor to backpedal a bit. #ddtb
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McDonnell: 'No Woman In Virginia Will Have To Undergo A Transvaginal Ultrasound Involuntarily'
Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA) issued this press release on Wednesday, calling for amendments that would soften a controversial state bill to require any woman seeking an abortion to first get an ultrasoun…
I was beginning to think the country had gone insane…glad to know there are some people out there with power who have a little sense.
Meanwhile, other states are looking at passing the same sort of thing. And it's not like the whole bill has been dropped — it's still a crazy-ass bill designed to make abortion as difficult, time-consuming, and expensive as possible, even if, barely, still legal.
I know. I worry about the world my daughter will grow up in. She isn't quite 4 so she still has a ways to go to think about these things…so I worry for her.
Me, too, for mine.