Ultrasound Politics

I just caught the tail end of an NPR show discussing the new Virginia ultrasound law that requires women seeking abortions to have a vaginal ultrasound to help them better understand the decision they so flippantly made about terminating their pregnancy.

I've been hearing about this issue a lot lately, but finally feel the need to put my 2 cents in. 

First of all, I've had a vaginal ultrasound, and let me tell you, it ain't fun.  I had to get one during my last pregnancy, and as a person with sexual assault in my background, it made me very queasy.  Not to be indelicate, but we're talking about a rather large probe here.  I did it without (too much) complaint, because I was having a very wanted and planned for pregnancy, and my doctor assured me it was in my best interest.  But I can't imagine being pushed into this procedure for absolutely NO medical reason, especially if I had been seeking an abortion because I was raped.  Let me repeat that: having a pre-abortion vaginal ultrasound serves absolutely NO medical purpose.  The purpose is clearly to get the best image possible of the embryo in the hopes that the woman seeking the abortion will change her mind.  After all, you know how emotional and wishy-washy we women are about making personal decisions.

The woman in the NPR discussion had written an article about the new law that described the ultrasound as a form of rape, since the law does not allow for the woman to give her consent to be vaginally probed; she either does it, or she doesn't get the abortion.  The author of the piece was roundly chastised for this point of view, but I think she made a good point.  Doesn't the government forcing you to be vaginally probed fall somewhere along the lines of sexual assault?

This law is nothing more than yet another attempt to slut-shame women who had the audacity to have sex with someone in an instance where bearing a child was not the ultimate goal.  It is also an attempt to continue pushing the lie that women who have abortions do so casually, and without really knowing what they're doing, which of course implies that women just aren't all that smart to begin with.  And you know what, if women keep voting for the people (mainly men) who are passing these ridiculous laws, then maybe we're not so smart, are we?