See below for video from this morning of yet MORE awfulness from Virginia Senate Republicans, this time telling women what they can and can’t do with their bodies. The bill being discussed is SB292, by Sen. Jennifer McClellan (D), which “[c]larifies that when a woman who qualifies for state medical assistance reports to a public health agency that her pregnancy is a result of rape or incest, the Board of Health is required to fund an abortion without requiring any report of such rape or incest to law enforcement.”
In the following exchange, anti-abortion extremist and anti-LGBT bigot Sen. Dick Black (faaaaar-right R) responds to Sen. McClellan’s presentation by frothing at the mouth about her bill supposedly “open[ing] the floodgate for state funding of abortion” and supposedly “invit[ing] fraud in using state funds in order to fund elective abortions.” Seriously. The right-wing wacko actually said that shit.
Sen. Mamie Locke (D) follows, rightfully “applauding Sen. McClellan for bringing forth this legislation” and then adds, emotionally: “I think that I’m probably the only person sitting up here who’s been a victim of incest.” Sen. Locke continues that “women coming forward now is very very important, and I don’t think this opens the floodgates to anything other than women ending their victimization and being allowed to end that victimization.” Sen. Locke concludes, with 100% justifiable emotion:
“I think that to simply say that women are going to come up and say ‘oh oh give me an abortion’ to easy their way out of an unwanted pregnancy is foolhardy…I’m just upset at the fact that people think that way and feel that way about us as women and that we would deliberately do that. That’s why women have been silent for so long and have not voiced that they have been raped and sexually assaulted or have been victims of incest because of…some of the thinking that I’ve heard here.”
The Republican-controlled committee then proceeds to reject Sen. McClellan’s bill on a party-line vote, with the all-male-but-one Republicans voting “no” as a block, and the Democrats all voting yes. Grrrr. Again, let’s all be ready for 2019, when we throw out as many of these cretins from office as possible. In the meantime…ugh, we really have to listen to this CRAP???
P.S. These Democratic women, particularly Sen. Mamie Locke, are my heroes!
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