Virginia Assembly Votes to Deny Women Ability to Purchase Private Coverage of Abortion Care →
Nothing says “small government” like forbidding people to use their own money to pay for legal services.
(via becauseiamawoman)
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“Virginia Gov. McDonnell (R) just forced state health board to shut down ALL abortion clinics!” (Daily Kos 2012)
FRI SEP 14, 2012 AT 06:34 PM PDT
Rachel Maddow just reported on this. Under pressure from Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell (R) and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R), the state Board of Health reversed their prior ruling and applied a new trap law designed to shut down every single abortion clinic in the entire state.
Under pressure from Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, the Virginia Board of Health voted on Friday to pass a set of building regulations that could force many abortion clinics in the state to shut down.
Opponents of the regulations, which include minimum hallway widths, specific ventilation systems and covered entrances, argue that they are medically unnecessary and meant for the construction of new hospitals — not as regulations for existing outpatient abortion clinics. None of the 20 clinics in the state that are applying for a new license currently meet the requirements, and in order to come into compliance in the allotted two-year time period they would have to undergo costly, extensive renovations.
The board voted to pass the regulations in June along with an amendment that would have grandfathered in existing clinics. But Cuccinelli refused to certify the version the board passed and told members that adopting such an amendment was outside their scope of power. He said the legislation that directed the board to regulate abortion clinics as hospitals, sponsored by Del. Kathy Byron (R-Lynchburg), did not intend for existing clinics to be exempt. The legislation called for the board to pass regulations on building specifics.
More from the Washington Post.
This is the anti-choicers’ new MO - instead of attacking Roe v. Wade, they gut health care funding and shut down clinics by any means possible.
Many of the abortion providers in Virginia also offer other general and reproductive health care services, including some who also offer a sliding fee scale for those who can’t afford regularly-priced health care. Is Virginia equipped to deal with the demand for these crucial services if they shut the clinics down? I doubt it.
There’s still time. If McDonnell and Cuccinelli (both Republican cis men - where have I heard that before?) both sign off on the regulations, there will still be a public comment period before the board votes next year.
Virginians, you know what to do.
(Source: dailykos.com, via choosechoice)
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This year, Virginia became the 8th state requiring a woman to get an ultrasound before having an abortion. #ProLife (Taken with Instagram)
Typical of anti-choicers not to understand or care about consent.
Typical of anti-choicers not to understand or care about the increased cost to patients and clinics, forcing clinics to cut down on non-abortion services.
Typical of anti-choicers not to understand or care about how waiting periods negatively affect people’s jobs and child care, or put people in danger from abusive partners.
Typical of anti-choicers not to understand or care about adding to the “trauma” of abortion they love to crow about.
Typical of condescending, paternalistic anti-choicers not to trust us to make our own decisions on our own time.
Oh yeah, I’m definitely feeling that pro-life love.
Aren’t the ultrasounds transvaginal? As in, the patient is getting penetrated by a device that they may or may not want inside of them? As in, things like consentual sex and abortion are not invasive because they’re what the person WANTED, as opposed to something that is being forced on them?
Virginia’s aren’t transvaginal (they tried and failed), but Texas has required transvaginal ultrasounds for almost a year, and North Carolina’s law is on hold by a judge. Oklahoma’s was thankfully struck down by a judge in March.
Transvaginal ultrasound requirements were a political fad that sputtered out in the spring. However, Paul Ryan, the GOP’s vice president pick, has a 100% anti-choice voting record, including forced ultrasounds. I bet he’d love to mandate forced transvaginal ultrasounds across the country if he couldn’t get his way banning all abortions outright.
(via masenko-your-face)
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View high resolution
This year, Virginia became the 8th state requiring a woman to get an ultrasound before having an abortion. #ProLife (Taken with Instagram)
Typical of anti-choicers not to understand or care about consent.
Typical of anti-choicers not to understand or care about the increased cost to patients and clinics, forcing clinics to cut down on non-abortion services.
Typical of anti-choicers not to understand or care about how waiting periods negatively affect people’s jobs and child care, or put people in danger from abusive partners.
Typical of anti-choicers not to understand or care about adding to the “trauma” of abortion they love to crow about.
Typical of condescending, paternalistic anti-choicers not to trust us to make our own decisions on our own time.
Oh yeah, I’m definitely feeling that pro-life love.
(via life-gift-love-eternal)
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Virginia Medical Board Shoots Down Unnecessary Abortion Clinic Rules →
IN UNEXPECTED MOVE, VIRGINIA MEDICAL BOARD SHOOTS DOWN UNNECESSARY ABORTION CLINIC PROVISIONS | In a big victory for the pro-choice movement in Virginia, the Medical Board of the state has protected existing abortion clinics from a series of stringent regulations aimed at closing or debilitating the facilities. After the Virginia legislature voted that all abortion clinics needed to be certified doctor’s offices, the Virginia Department of Health released guidelines for clinics that included unnecessary regulations such as the size of janitors’ closets in abortion clinics. The Board of Health voted 7-4 to grandfather in any existing clinics so that they do not have to get up to code on these superfluous provisions.
It’s a start.
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Lawmaker Barred After Vagina Comment →
File under: this would be funny if it weren’t so fucking sad.
Michigan House Republicans prohibited state Rep. Lisa Brown (D) from speaking on the floor after she ended a speech against a bill restricting abortions by referencing her female anatomy, the Detroit News reports.
Said Brown: “Finally, Mr. Speaker, I’m flattered that you’re all so interested in my vagina, but ‘no’ means ‘no.’”
Republicans said Brown was “offensive” and wouldn’t allow her to voice her opinion on a school employee retirement bill.
Responded Brown: “If I can’t say the word vagina, why are we legislating vaginas? What language should I use?”Conservative men are so scared of us claiming ownership over our own anatomy they won’t even let us name it, yet they’re allowed to play porno music and joke about getting shut down by their wives during a session about forcing people seeking abortions to undergo transvaginal ultrasounds.
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Update on Forced Ultrasound Laws
Virginia is now the 8th state with forced ultrasounds before abortion. When it passed its law, it joined Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.
Texas has the harshest forced ultrasound law currently in effect. As Andrea Grimes reported,
“Texas has the most extreme law that’s being enforced right now,” says the Center For Reproductive Rights’ Julie Rikelman, the lead attorney on the CRR’s lawsuit filed against the Texas legislation. Despite the sympathetic leanings of a federal district judge who initially ruled on the case, the suit has more or less been stalled by a vehemently anti-choice Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which denied the CRR’s requested injunction against enforcement last month. Now, that means that all aspects of the law—mandated ultrasounds, 24-hour waiting periods, and forced speech—are now in full force in Texas.
Oklahoma’s forced ultrasound bill, which was similar to TX’s, was struck down by a federal court recently.
North Carolina, which also has passed a harsh TX-style forced ultrasound bill, is unable to enforce their law pending a court decision.
Pennsylvania’s forced ultrasound bill is officially kaput, at least for this year.
And, as Robin Marty reports, Iowa:
What is the difference between a traffic light camera and a mandatory trans-vaginal ultrasound? One is a violation of privacy, according to Iowa legislators.
Can you guess which?
The Iowa legislature is considering banning traffic cameras due to “privacy concerns.” And those who are arguing for the ban are the same who think all women should be forced to undergo forced ultrasounds prior to an abortion.
These laws will affect all those with the ability to become pregnant.
(via stfuconservatives)
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This is DAY 44 of TEXAS HAVING MANDATORY TRANSVAGINAL ULTRASOUNDS before abortion
While Texas is only state currently forcing people to undergo transvaginal ultrasounds, Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, AND VIRGINIA all have forced ultrasounds before an abortion.
Oklahoma and North Carolina have passed similar laws to the one in Texas but they are not being enforced due to pending court decisions.
Guttmacher’s updated .pdf of what ultrasound laws are passed and in effect in which states.
(Source: keepyourbsoutofmyuterus)
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Georgia senate panel approves ‘fetal pain’ anti-abortion bill
A Georgia state senate committee has voted in favor of a so-called “fetal pain” bill, a measure that would narrow the legal window during which women can legally obtain an abortion by six weeks.According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, House Bill 954 would “tighten medical exemptions for terminating pregnancies and require any abortion performed after 20 weeks of pregnancy be done in a way to bring the fetus out alive.”
The measure alleges that at 20 weeks a fetus is capable of feeling pain and therefore it must be protected by the state. Democrats, women’s groups and medical professionals have lobbied hard to defeat the measure. Democratic legislators requested that the committee recount the votes by hand, a motion that committee chair Renee Unterman (R-Buford) overruled.
Any attempts to determine fetal gestational age will require a transvaginal ultrasound, the invasive procedure that featured prominently in a controversial Virginia anti-abortion law. Also, under the new law, physicians performing abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy can be charged with a felony and face up to a decade in prison.
Oh my god. No preemie has ever survived before 21 weeks and 5 days, and that was after weeks of aggressive interventions, in a country with universal health care (Germany) - and her twin, born at the same time, died.
Fetuses don’t have the capacity to breathe air until after 20 weeks! They’re proposing removing a largely unconscious, possibly anesthetized being that is almost certainly unable to feel pain until at least 24 weeks (possibly even 35-37 weeks) gestation, and subjecting it to weeks of intense interventions not even guaranteed to help it survive? Seriously?
Georgians, contact your senators and representatives. It’s not too late. Find out who they are here. Don’t let this pass!
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rameysaurus is the woman (Ramey Connelly) behind this awesome idea.
She is participating in National Network of Abortion Funds’ Bowl-a-thon. A link to her fundraising page is below.
Well done, rameysaurus. WELL DONE!
Holy crap, this is practically going viral! If I can get a $10 donation from every person who “liked” or reblogged my snark, I will blow past my goal! The Richmond Reproductive Freedom Project is a volunteer-based nonprofit that provides practical and financial support for abortion services in VA and our surrounding communities. Every amount helps. Donate here: http://bowlathon.nnaf.org/nnafbowl/participantpage.asp?uid=2679&fundid=714
How one Virginia woman is responding to her state legislators that voted in favor of VA’s forced ultrasound bill.
She posts this message on each one of their Facebook pages:
Hi Senator _____________! I just wanted to let you know, since you’re concerned with women’s health, that my period started today! Color looks good, flow not too heavy. Cramps are pretty manageable but don’t worry - I’ll make sure to let you know if that changes! Thanks again for caring so much about women and our bodies!
If legislators in your state or those representing you at the federal level have voted for anti-choice bills, this is a great way to *thank* them.
Brilliant.
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Bad news.
VA has become 8th state to force mandatory ultrasounds before an abortion. Joins AL, AZ, FL, KS, LA, MS, and TX. #NoForcedUltrasounds
(via keepyourbsoutofmyuterus)
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March 3rd, 2012
RICHMOND, Va. — More than 30 activists have been arrested for refusing to leave the Virginia Capitol steps during a protest of anti-abortion legislation.
Virginia Capitol Police Capt. Raymond Goodloesays 31 protesters were arrested Saturday. The demonstrators were some of an estimated 500 people who had gathered to protest legislation like a bill that passed the General Assembly earlier in the week that requires an ultrasound before an abortion.
The group had a permit to rally at the Bell Tower on Capitol Square, but Goodloe said rallies are not allowed on the Capitol steps.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports (http://bit.ly/ye99lx) that police with plastic shields held demonstrators at bay while armed officers arrested protesters, who sat on the steps with locked arms.
Some moving and terrifying imagery.
(via stfuprolifers)
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Why am I only just seeing these? Virginia State Capitol Women’s Rights Protest, March 3 2012. 31 people were arrested.
(via stfuprolifers)
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