Some might call the term “state sponsored rape” a little severe or harsh, but I disagree. It involves forced, medically unnecessary, unwanted, unwelcome penetration of a woman’s vagina, and in Virginia, it’s being sanctioned and demanded by the state, thanks to a recently passed law, which is now headed to the desk of Governor Bob McDonnell (R), currently trolling for a vice presidential spot in the 2012 election. McDonnell has said that he will sign the bill into law, which would require a physician to perform a trans-vaginal ultrasound on women seeking an abortion.
What is a trans-vaginal ultrasound?
The U.S. National Library of Medicine describes it thusly:
Transvaginal ultrasound is a type of pelvic ultrasound. It is used to look at a woman’s reproductive organs, including the uterus, ovaries, cervix, and vagina. Transvaginal means across or through the vagina.
You will lie down on a table with your knees bent and feet in holders called stirrups. The health care provider will place a probe, called a transducer, into the vagina. The probe is covered with a condom and a gel. The probe sends out sound waves, which reflect off body structures. A computer receives these waves and uses them to create a picture. The doctor can immediately see the picture on a nearby TV monitor.
This procedure will now be required in Virginia, even if it’s against the woman’s will and without consent.
Now let’s take a look at the definition of rape in the state of Virginia:
§ 18.2-61. Rape.
A. If any person has sexual intercourse with a complaining witness, whether or not his or her spouse, or causes a complaining witness, whether or not his or her spouse, to engage in sexual intercourse with any other person and such act is accomplished (i) against the complaining witness’s will, by force, threat or intimidation of or against the complaining witness or another person; or (ii) through the use of the complaining witness’s mental incapacity or physical helplessness; or (iii) with a child under age 13 as the victim, he or she shall be guilty of rape.
Put those two things together and what you have is the state sponsored rape of any woman seeking an abortion, which has been legal in the United States since 1973. Not only is this bill turning women into rape victims by definition of Virginia’s rape laws, but it will turn that state’s physicians into unwilling rapists.
Is that over the top? I don’t think so. This law will force doctors to perform an invasive, penetrative and unnecessary procedure on a woman against her will, and in most cases, against the doctor’s will, and its end-game is to humiliate and demonize women – and the physicians who care for them – on the most personal and intimate level possible.
But Virginia is not an anomaly. Similar bills are being considered in both Texas and Iowa. Iowa, however, has a better chance of defeating this atrocity, as RH Reality Check reports:
And then there is Iowa – Iowa is no stranger to waging war on women’s reproductive rights, it has been the hobby of the religious right there for years. State GOP Representatives have brought forward three bills; egg-as-person, forced ultrasound and a so-called “Woman’s Right to Know” bill.
The forced ultrasound bill passed out of a House subcommittee and is on to the full Human Resources Committee – and then it’s on to the floor for full debate and vote. This bill is likely to pass out of the House but State Senator Steve Sodders told me (if it did make it out of the house) it would certainly die in the Senate. The Iowa Senate is the sane chamber dominated by Democrats functioning under the leadership of bulldog Senator Mike Gronstal.
This is the trouncing of women’s rights by the Republican Party, and it’s their hand reaching into your panties all the way up to your uterus. That’s right, the party of “smaller government” and “personal freedom and liberty” has now sanctioned rape by the state as a means to intimidate and threaten women.
And they’re not going to stop there…mark my words…
WATCH Rachel Maddow address this topic on Tuesday:
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About Beth
This form of ultrasound is also unreliable because they do not detect tubal pregnancies, which are life threatening.
Total nonsense. TV US is the best way to detect a tubal pregnancy (more sensitive and can be used in earlier pregancy than transabdominal).
Oh, and this law is a basic infringement of human rights.
One way or the other, if you want an abortion, they have to go in there. Where’s the complaint? I’m a woman – I’ve had the internal ultrasound, and I’ve delivered a child. If you are pregnant and want the fetus to be aborted, a doctor has to go up there. Yep – that part of your body is also used for sex – but no, every time the doctor has to do something in that vicinity, it doesn’t mean it’s rape …. is an abortion the same as rape? Because the doc has to go up into the uterus via the vagina…. I don’t get the ridiculous arguments this article is making.
Uh, this is an easy concept. A women might **want or need** to get an abortion. She’s probably prayed, meditated, agonized over it for a couple days. She expects what’s coming. What they don’t expect, nor need, is an EXTRA insertion, and then pointing things out on the computer monitor, “oh look we see something in there… sure you wanna go through with it? The law says we have to do this and ask. Come back in a day dear and then maybe we can do your abortion.”
@mejia: These are not ridiculous arguments. It’s one thing to to receive a trans-vaginal ultrasound if you request it, or if your physician feels it is medically necessary. It is quite another to be FORCED to receive the ultrasound when you are merely seeking a LEGAL medical procedure such as an abortion. This state sanctioned procedure is a violation of a woman’s rights and is being put in place to humiliate and shame a woman for her personal reproductive choices. Imagine if it were a rape victim? Do you honestly believe the STATE has a right to violate her a second time in this manner?
Mejla, by your reasoning there is no difference between making love and being raped — in both cases something goes “up there.” The difference is that one is by choice and the other is not. Same with this law: one procedure is by choice, the other is not. When something goes “up there” against your will, it is akin to rape. It is not the story that is ridiculous, it is your comment.
Couldn’t agree more with your comment Russ!
Bravo!
If I wish to undergo a vasectomy, a surgeon must at some point touch my penis. Clearly this is state-sponsored rape (state sponsored because NHS).
Nah. It’s not. You requested and consented to the procedure. It’s medically necessary that your giant penis be sterilized and then moved out of the way so that the surgeon can cut into your scrotum without slicing through said giant penis. It is consensual contact, medically necessary, and therefore not rape.
You’re mistaken. Props though on trivializing rape in the comments section of a blog. You, sir, are clearly an experienced troll.
Ryan – Thank you for saying what we were thinking in regards to Leigh’s pathetic penis.
I think the uproar over this is intellectually dishonest. So a woman is going in to have a medical procedure to end her pregnancy. A procedure she is choosing. A procedure that will necessarily involve dating the pregnancy. A procedure that will almost certainly necessitate various instruments being inserted into the vagina and/or cervix. And somehow performing a transvaginal ultrasound would be state sponsored rape? I’m sorry, but to me – a pro-choice woman – this is just another part of the procedure, and being fully informed about the choice that is being made. It should no more be frowned upon than describing the procedure to the woman, and discussing symptoms to expect and watch out for during and after the procedure. If a woman cannot deal with the reality of the decision she is making – whether it be seeing what the fetus looks like, or being told what the doctor will do to perform the abortion, or that she may experience bleeding and cramping after the procedure, then she is not fully prepared to go through with the choice. I think all this talk about “state sponsored rape” is nothing more than intellectual dishonesty.
See your missing the point.
1. She is *choosing* the procedure of termination, therefore consents to the necessary medical interventions.
2. She is *not consenting* to a TV ultrasound and there is no medical reason for it.but is being forced by law to have a TV ultrasound, involving unwanted penetration.
One is a choice – the other is not.
** If a woman cannot deal with the reality of the decision she is making – whether it be seeing what the fetus looks like, or being told what the doctor will do to perform the abortion, or that she may experience bleeding and cramping after the procedure, then she is not fully prepared to go through with the choice.**
She does not need to see what the foetus looks like, what will be done to perform the procedure. If I have an gallstone I dont have to know what the gallstone looks like or get details of the operation to go through with it. I do however need to know about aftercare and have any necessary help or support that I may need, what I don’t need is unnecessary medical interventions.
Why is the vanignal penetration necessary when you can have an untrasound through the belly wall with no penetration? They both show what the fetus looks like etc.
@Brooke, the fact that you claim to be “pro-choice” is an absolute insult to the pro-choice movement and to women everywhere. There are – and have always been – alterate ways to date a pregnancy without shoving an object into a woman’s hoo-hoo by force. Under this law, she is not allowed to refuse and the doctor is not allowed to refuse – if that isn’t one person being raped and one person being the rapist, nothing is.
You are no different than the Republican male Nazis who wrote this bill – not only do you hate your own kind, but just like them, you assume we’re all so stupid we need to be “informed” about what we’re doing, and that’s unforgivable. Turn your panties in at the nearest NOW office.
Didn’t a bunch of these Republican delegates and senators get elected on the tea-party wave? This law should not have come from a party of “fiscal conservatism” (supposedly).
Are trans-vaginal ultrasounds free? No. There is an equipment cost. There is an insurance claim handling cost. There is the matter of the extra time (and time is money) the doctor has to spend performing this procedure. The costs don’t stop there.
Last I’d heard, the Virginia budget had a projected shortfall. Why is the Republican party pushing legislation that triggers spending on unnecessary medical procedures?
Who is paying for all of this? I have a sneaking suspicion I am, as is everyone else who lives in the state of Virginia. Maybe this gets paid for via some portion of tax revenue. Maybe this gets paid for by insurance companies and the cost trickles into my rising premiums. Somehow, I just know the cost of this becomes the responsibility of me and my fellow recession-weary Virginia residents.
Why is the Republican party sponsoring and passing bills that make Virginia residents pay for unnecessary medical procedures? Was this bill purely an idealogical move, or were the health insurance companies in on the lobbying for this bill? Surely it’s yet another boon for them.
This law manages to screw people of every gender, just some more literally than others…
This is an outright violation of the 4th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
mejia,
I’m a woman – I’ve had the internal ultrasound, and I’ve delivered a child. Yes, a doctor has to go “up there” for many reasons, including for pap smears. Yep – that part of your body is also used for sex – so, dare I say, a penis has been up there too. When I had the ultrasound it was for a medically necessary procedure, to detect cancer. There is no medical necessity here, as is so clearly pointed out by Brooke who argues that a woman should have to see “what the fetus looks like,” which is purely punitive. When I consented to having the penis up there it was consensual sex. When it was put up there against my will, it was rape. Where there is no mutual consent, and there can be none here, it is legally rape. No, “every time the doctor has to do something in that vicinity, it doesn’t mean it’s rape.” Just when a woman is not allowed to say “No.”
No it’s not.
Rape is bad (duh), but this is no more rape than a smear test is, or than a prostate exam is sexual abuse. It’s arguably less necessary and in a much less pleasant context as abortion is an upsetting enough process as it is, but please don’t try to evoke outrage by claiming it’s something it isn’t, it invalidates any further (reasoned) argument you would make against it.
Read your own quotes and realise that not everything that happens to someone’s genitals is a sexual act. Argue against this legislation with reason, not emotions of misplaced outrage.
“not everything that happens to someone’s genitals is a sexual act”
DS, rape is not a sexual act. It is a violent act that is done out of anger, rage and a need to control another through force. Sounds almost exactly like the GOP of Virgina have done. They can’t stand that women are now allowed by law, to have control over their own bodies regarding reproduction. So they’ve enacted this law that forces women who have decided to take control of their reproductive rights, to endure a humiliating, demoralizing , degrading, unnecsessary act upon their body. This is tantimount to rape and it has been santioned by the Virginia GOP.
FYI, I am not pro-abortion and do not believe it should be used as a form of birth control. However, every woman has the legal right to make her own decision as to what is right for her. The GOP are saying smaller, less intrusive government?! I believe the term is HYPOCRITS!!!!!!!
@EC, thank you for pointing out that rape is not a sexual act, but an act of violence. It’s sad that in 2012 people still need to be reminded of that. Even Republicans, who should know better since they’ve repeated every grade at least twice.
And yes, the GOP are nothing but hypocrites with their constant yapping about “small government” and “personal freedom”. Yeah, right, unless you’re gay or a woman. They’re all for saving babies when they’re unborn, but once they are born, forget about it – every child gets left behind, especially the poor ones who need food stamps and day care just to survive. They just want to save babies so they can grow up to be dead soldiers.
Oh, I just love your assessment of this being “less pleasant”! Hey, here’s an idea, let’s jam an object up inside you for no reason and see if you still feel the same way.
Since there are other methods of performing ultrasounds that show the same images of the fetus as the trasnvanginal one I would consider this state sponsored rape if I was not allowed to consent to the procedure. If I don’t want it transvanginally but am willing to have an ultrasound performed on my belly I should be allowed that.
Ladies, it’s time to tell the GOP that enough is enough and to stay out of our uterus’s! On April 28th we are marching on all 50 State Capitals to show them that yes, we are listening, and yes, we WILL be voting in November. Join us! http://www.facebook.com/groups/300397393356744/
“GOP” now stands for “Government Ordered Probe”
People seem to be forgetting that it is possible to have an abortion WITHOUT having instruments put inside of you. If it is a very early pregnancy, the woman can get a medical abortion (induced miscarriage) with medication.