When did Virginia become part of the Deep South?
I was raised in the Maryland suburbs of DC, and back then, Virginia was THE place for young adults to live and play. In an effort to further promote the state and boost tourism, Virginia launched its catchy and highly successful slogan, “Virginia is for Lovers.”
My home state countered with its own slogan, “Maryland is for Crabs,” which, while catchy, in hindsight might not have been the best way of promoting what one can catch when visiting that state.
But that was then. Today, a mere 40 years later, Virginia is anything but the place for lovers. In fact, the Republican-led Virginia House of Delegates is in the midst of enacting two legislative initiatives that are basically telling lovers, particularly fertile lovers, to keep out.
First, Virginia is poised to become the first state in the nation to grant personhood rights to fertilized eggs. This “personhood” law would criminalize the birth control pill, stem cell research, and perhaps even In Vitro Fertility (IVF) assistance for childless couples. And, of course, since the proposed legislation defines “personhood” as beginning at the moment of conception and gives legal rights to a human fertilized egg, it essentially equates abortion with murder, even in cases of rape, incest, or life endangerment.
During the debate, Republican delegate Todd Gilbert said, about a woman’s decision to have an abortion, “in the vast majority of these cases, these [abortions] are matters of lifestyle convenience.” Yeah, just like being gay is a lifestyle choice, right?
As if that’s not enough, the Virginia House also passed a rather Draconian piece of legislation that would require a woman who might seek a legal abortion in the state to submit to a “transvaginal ultrasound,” essentially a forced vaginal invasion. I’m told that this procedure is not only medically unnecessary, it is painful and humiliating. It is essentially being imposed on a woman against her will, like rape with a foreign object.
Further, according to an article in Slate, doctors in the Commonwealth will be required to certify whether or not the patient “availed herself of the opportunity” to view the ultrasound or listen to the fetal heartbeat. That certification would go into the woman’s medical records...whether she wants it there or not. So much for the legal definition of physician-patient privilege and the concept of confidentiality of patient personal health information.
Yet both of these Constitutionally questionable and personally invasive measures are likely to become law in a state where Republicans control both the House and Senate and where the governor, Bob McDonnell, is a socially conservative Catholic.
Interestingly, an amendment that would have required any man seeking Viagra to get a rectal exam did not make it into the law. Coming from a predominantly white male state legislature, that certainly is a shocker!
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. I think you just elected him into your House of Delegates.
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