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I'm a Minnesota Girl, living in the south. I tell my friends I try not to talk and think like a Yankee, but sometimes I slip up!

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

STAND UP... AGAINST TYRANNY








THIS







IS




A TRANSVAGINAL ULTRASOUND PROBE



What is it used for?


The test can be performed to evaluate women with infertility problems, abnormal bleeding, sources of unexplained pain, congenital malformations of the uterus and ovaries, and possible tumors and infection. The most prevalent use is in women who are not pregnant.



What is it not used for?

Examining the state of a fetus in utero is best done by a transducer, used over the abdomen. Most doctors recommend that the test be performed within the first 18-22 weeks of preganancy. A transvaginal probe is used only in very early pregnancy stages, when an ectopic or molar pregnancy is suspected.

So What Is Going On Now?

In inflicting politics and the law upon the relationship between a woman and her doctor, state legislatures in some states have decided that the perfect way to assist a woman to NOT make the decision to abort a pregnancy is to force her to get a transvaginal ultrasound. It does not matter that the test is medically not necessary. It doesn't matter that it will cause additional expense. It does not matter that the application of this particular instrument is humiliating for most women. It doesn't matter that the law will legislate that a doctor MUST perform this test on a woman who DOES NOT get a chance to consent to it.



Extremists have likened this to a form of legalized rape. Colorful language for a law and an unnecessary medical procedure that seems as though it is designed to inflict punishment on women. Why not just stone them?


The state of Virginia is such a state. They are on the cusp of making this the law of their particular land. Only the governor's signature remains. And then, the sometimes silent, incredibly vast anger of the women of the state of Virginia, and many of the men (55% of those polled are against this, ONLY 36% in favor) will begin the drumbeat of public outrage. The kind of outrage that Komen faced. The kind of outrage that OWS represents for another kind of situation. The enactment of this law will be the beginning of the end for Virginia governor Bob McDonnell, who can barely disguise his longing to be Vice President.



Because the kind of movement that is behind this bizarre legislation is the type of movement that has all along been thought to be anti-abortion. It had traction when it moved against procedures such as partial-birth abortion. It lost ground when madmen began to kill the doctors who performed abortions, which, I remind you, are lawful. It is now revealed to be "pro-family" (as defined in extreme), anti-contraception, anti-divorce, anti-homosexuality ... "the antis" go on and on. And as more of the extreme measures are revealed in states across the nation, the general public recoils at the thought that this type of social extremism not only exists in the 21st century, but that we have damn well made millionaires and political postulates out of some of the people who advocate it the strongest.

Check out McDonnell, with some of the text from his master's thesis:

he blasts... “the perverted notion of liberty that each individual should be able to live out his sexual life in any way he chooses without interference from the state”..... and refers to the family as: a “God-ordained government,” ... he is against all efforts to “redefine family by allowing special rights,” not just for “homosexuals,” but for “single-parent unwed mothers” . He touts leadership as: "Leadership, however, does not require giving voters what they want, for whimsical and capricious government would result. Republican legislators must exercise independent professional judgment as statesmen, the decisions that are objectively right, and proved effective. " He states that "the government must restrain, punish, and deter” not only drug abuse and pornography, but homosexuality.


I won't go into his restrictions on no-fault divorce and the existence of day care, which supports working women, which is ultimately detrimental to the family, in McDonnell land.


I recognize him. In 1920, he would have been against my right to vote. Now, he somewhat serendipitously wants to probe my uterus.



Will McDonnell sign the bill? Will it begin a chain of feminine protest (or just logical protest) the country has not yet seen? Tune in. It could happen in the next week. If he's foolish.

Get involved. There is a movement in this land to restrict our choice, strip our access to prenatal testing, contraception, in vitro fertilization... and make us pay for it. This is not the platform that most Republicans want or believe in, but they have ceded a lot of the stagescript to extremists that believe a woman's place is in the kitchen... or homeschooling a half dozen children while men make the decisions for this land of ours. It is a rollback in women's rights unprecedented in the modern world. Stand up and and change it.


1 comment:

Kelly said...

I've actually seen one of those things (and it was being used on someone who was not pregnant, but wanted to be) and they are much larger than you would imagine!