Virginia’s General Assembly rewriting Republican stance
Ultrasound bill soundoff unheard by Republicans
Katherine Johnson
Columnist
Virginia has been the butt of jokes for late night TV shows during the past two weeks. Both “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “Saturday Night Live” have taken aim at House Bill 462, a controversial ultrasound bill, bringing national attention to Virginia’s General Assembly.
For those opposed to the bill, national media coverage is the best-case scenario. Originally, the bill stated that all women seeking an abortion must undergo a transvaginal ultrasound. Now, after public pressure, Gov. Bob McDonnell has amended the bill so a woman could reject an invasive ultrasound.
Along with the ultrasound bill, a “personhood” bill has also received much attention. Thankfully it was shelved last week, but the mere idea that it still lives now, waiting until next year to be readdressed, is brutally offensive.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that 55 percent of Virginians oppose women undergoing an ultrasound before having an abortion. If you visit the governor’s official Facebook page, his wall is littered with post urging him to veto HB 462.
These numbers and actions should speak to Republicans and make them aware that they need to stop pushing their own agenda over Virginian’s opinions and rights. But Republicans seem intent on tyrannically intent on shoving their agenda right down our orifices.
Since when has the Republican Party wanted so much control over an individual’s life? The last time I checked, Republicans stood for a small government that doesn’t invade it’s citizen’s lives. How is this bill any different then the Obama healthcare plan that conservatives constantly criticize? Clearly government intervention is okay when it’s conveniently aligns with the Republican agenda.
Both bills are a violation of women’s rights and an individual’s civil liberties. Numerous groups have protested outside of the Capitol in opposition to the bills, with national coverage adding pressure to lawmakers. With the recent amendment to the ultrasound bill, it’s obvious the governor wants to avoid media attention and criticism.
If Virginia continues to be the punch line for late night comedians’ jokes, maybe Republicans in the General Assembly will reconsider the bills altogether.
What is most frustrating about the bills may be the Republican Party’s identity crisis and double standards. If Obama’s healthcare plan is a violation of an individual’s rights, requiring an ultrasound before an abortion should be equated to the same idea. It’s as if conservatives are saying, “It’s only okay for us to violate your rights.”
With the upcoming election, Republicans’ toughest opponents are themselves. Along with confusing voters on what the party stands for, the party is focusing on issues that the general population isn’t worried about at the moment.
It’s common knowledge that the country’s economic status is the most important factor in upcoming elections. Americans are focused on jobs, unemployment and the general health of the economy, not taking away women’s rights.
Republicans, do yourselves a favor and stick to the economy. This is the area in which you’d be most likely to win votes.
The managing board of the Human Rights and Scientific Honesty Initiative would like to congratulate and thank Virginia General Assembly Delegate Kathy Byron and Senator Jill Vogel on the passage into law of House Bill 462, Virginia’s new Informed Consent Ultrasound Law requiring that mothers be offered the chance to see and hear the reality of their child’s humanity before following through with his or her dismemberment. We’d also like to thank Democratic Senators Phillip Puckett and Chuck Colgan for their votes in favor of this life saving legislation, as well as Senator Puckett and Delegates Bob Marshall and Rob Bell for their endeavors on our behalf over the last year. We also express our gratitude towards all of the 64 Delegates and 21 Senators who voted for this bill, an to Governor Bob McDonnell for signing it into law and respecting the will of the voters above the threats and misinformation from its opponents that have been repeated in the media.
Informed consent is a foundational pillar of medical ethics going back hundreds of years. Violated wholesale for decades by the abortion industry, this new law will set things back in the right direction towards a day when human rights and scientific honesty will prevail once more in all of the medical facilities in Virginia. While we acknowledge that this is just a first small step towards those goals, we appreciate and applaud that thousands of lives will be saved as more mothers are adequately informed. We are also taking great interest in those provisions in the law that mandate honest descriptions of human development, accurate medical record keeping, and a rejuvenated regime of informed consent for mothers when it is most crucial.
We also would like to express our disappointment and astonishment that Senate Bill 277 was continued to the 2013 legislative session rather than swiftly becoming law. This was to be a new law finally outlawing forced and coerced abortions in Virginia. From the home of Tammy Lynn Baker and her unborn daughter Savannah, who both paid the ultimate price for this common yet under-reported phenomenon, we noticed that there was a complete media blackout of this bill – and that all organizations who proclaim themselves as being “pro choice” avoided any mention of it also. We also take note of the 18 state senators who voted against a bill outlawing threats and coercion towards pregnant women, as well as the Delegates in the House Committee for Courts and Justice who prevented it from even getting to the House floor for a vote.
For over 40 years here in Virginia, the abortion industry has deliberately and successfully lied to girls and women, and violated the medical tradition of informed consent regarding several crucial facts of medical science. They have done so on behalf of their political and profit motivated agendas, and in doing so have already harmed and/or killed countless women as well as their children. As a direct result of their dishonesty, we now have more children with developmental disabilities and severe birth defects such as cerebral palsy. Since 1989, this policy of dishonesty and keeping women in the dark regarding grave threats to health unfortunately found its way into the health care infrastructures of both the University of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University as they have pursued their own in house abortion programs as state funded institutions. This will not stand.
In honor of International Women’s Day, we remember and honor the 23 million American girls and women who are not here with us because they were the ultimate victims of elective abortions, and reflect on what each of these women may have accomplished in life. We’d also like to note the passing of our colleagues Kortney Blythe Gordon, her unborn daughter Sophie, and Jon Sharfenberger this past October. Kortney and John were brave and capable defenders of both women’s and children’s health, and it is in their honor and memory that we will now more aggressively pursue bringing human rights and scientific honesty back to UVA and VCU employing all the legal and legislative means available to us. In the coming days, we will be releasing our response to the changes that we have forced the University of Virginia to make over the past year, their numerous continued violations of informed consent, and a list of UVA employees who should resign their positions due to the serious harm that they have already done and continue to do.
Virginia has been through this process before, first with slavery – and later with the Jim Crow laws. Publicly funded universities peddling nonsense as science, speaking of “potential persons,” and comparing vulnerable and powerless populations to parasites or “human weeds” is nothing new to Virginia, US, or world history. But in the end, the reality of medical science and the unalienable rights of all persons always prevails. This is precisely why ultrasounds change the minds of so many mothers.
Although we are gratified that the Culture of Death is now in retreat in Virginia, we acknowledge that the overall battle is far from over. We will not be backing off our activism against these universities as they continue to violate the Declaration of Geneva as reaffirmed following the Nazi Doctor’s Trial at Nuremberg, The United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child, the Nuremberg Protocol, the Declaration of Helsinki, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We rededicate ourselves anew to bringing back a healthy and robust respect for human rights, informed consent, and scientific honesty to both UVA and VCU.