Wow. I’ve decided I really like Janet Howell (D-Fairfax)! As the Virginia State Senate was ready to pass a bill requiring women who seek an abortion to undergo an ultrasound and then be asked whether they wished to view the results and hear the fetal heartbeat, Howell decided the time had come for a bit of gender equity in the General Assembly. So, she proposed an amendment to SB484, which was introduced by Jill Holtzman Vogel (R-Winchester). Howell’s amendment would have required that men who wished a prescription for the “magic” little blue pill for erectile dysfunction to submit to a digital rectal exam and cardiac stress test to prove they were fit for action.
The result was a foregone conclusion in the newly organized Senate, but Howell surprisingly got 19 votes for her amendment, with 21 against. Only Chuck Colgan voted against it on the Democratic side.
The intent of SB484 is obvious. Rather than giving women “informed consent,” Holtzman Vogel’s bill is just another way to shame and intimidate women contemplating abortion and to have the state require unnecessary medical procedures and add to the cost of abortion.
I wish I could figure out exactly what strange obsession compels Republicans to feel they have to spend so much time talking about and legislating women’s sexual anatomy and behavior. It’s pretty creepy. Maybe Janet Howell has found the best weapon against that stuff. Turn it the other way and show just how absurd it is.
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