The Godly Republicans in the Virginia state legislature have introduced a bill requiring ... well, here's Democratic Delegate David Elgin's description:
This bill will require many women in Virginia to undergo vaginal penetration with an ultrasound probe against their consent in order to exercise their constitutional right to an abortion, even for nonsurgical, noninvasive, pharmaceutical abortions.I don't want to focus on the abortion, or the political pushback, or even the Constitution. I want to focus on the act.
"Vaginal penetration with an ultrasound probe against their consent" ... How is that not Rape with Instruments?
What's "rape with instruments"? It's when someone shows up and shoves things inside of you without your consent — except that the things aren't his body parts. One definition:
Rape by InstrumentationYour Godly Right Wing at work, sado-masochists all. Rapists for the Lord.
Rape by instrumentation is an act of forced sexual aggression against an individual that does not involve sexual intercourse.
Specifically, it is:
"an act within or without the bonds of matrimony, in which any inanimate object or any part of the human body ... not amounting to sexual intercourse, is used in the carnal knowledge of another person, without his or her consent and penetration of the anus or vagina occurs to that person."
I'll give Digby the analysis, since she says it best (my emphasis):
No Virginia, it's not really about the fetus. It's all about the probe. ... Republicans insisted that doctors put an instrument inside the woman's vagina. Why? Well, since there's no medical reason for it, the only possible explanation is that they want to "send a message." You know. About who's boss[.]Or, as my old Uncle Straight Talk always reminds me: "It's not about the sex; they're rutting like pigs at their hate-fest. It's about the power. All they want is the Power."
More from John Celock at the Huffington Post:
While addressing the debate, Gilbert, the House's deputy majority leader, took to the floor to support the bill. The Shenandoah Valley lawmaker used his floor statement to describe most abortions as a "lifestyle convenience" for women. Witnesses said that Gilbert did not clarify which abortions he does not consider to be "lifestyle conveniences."
Democrats have criticized Gilbert's floor statement, and Englin said that the statement is in line with previous Republican comments on the issue. He noted he had a conversation with one GOP lawmaker regarding his amendment where the lawmaker had told him that women had already made the decision to be "vaginally penetrated when they got pregnant."It's not the hand in his shorts I'm worried about; it's the other one, the one with the knife. Republicans.
Update: According to Rachel Maddow, VA Gov. Bob McDonnell is Mitt Romney's smart-money pick for VP. Thought you should know. (By the way, Delegate Englin's amendment failed 2-1.)
Instrument Rape Republicans. Rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?
GP
