Virginia Republicans undermine attempt to repeal ultrasound law directed towards women

It’s almost as if Republican members of the Virginia General Assembly wish to isolate key demographics in the state, and on Thursday they appeared to move one step closer. It was on Thursday that Republicans in the Virginia Senate undermined a Democratic Party attempt at repealing a law passed last year that requires women to undergo an ultrasound before receiving an abortion.[1] But there’s more.

Republicans in the Senate also shot down legislation that would have blocked new regulations mandating abortion clinics meet hospital-like building standards.[2]

The Washington Times appeared to point out, though, that some Republican members of the Senate “crossed party lines” to defeat a bill that would have prevented the expenditure of tax dollars to pay for abortions for low-income women pregnant with fetuses that have severe mental or physical disabilities.[3] 

But it wouldn’t surprise me if their rationale for joining Democrats in Senate was much less benign.

Although the argument has been made many times, it never ceases to boggle the mind how perplexing hypocritical members of the Republican Party of Virginia, and elsewhere in the country, are when it comes to individual rights.

When it comes to guns, woe to anyone who would dare take any away. But when it comes to the rights of women, whether it be their right to have an abortion or their right to even seek appropriate medical care in so-called abortion clinics, members of the Republican Party have no trouble infringing upon these rights. And even though their hypocrisy is palpable, they continue along the same policy paths as if no problems in their positions existed.

So what can Virginians do? Virginians can do what voters and concerned citizens should always do, let their elected representatives know that the positions of their Republican Party elected officials on women’s rights are unacceptable.

The old cliché goes that you have to fight for your rights. For women in Virginia in particular, this seems doubly true. But as a society, we rise and fall together. The denigration of rights for one group should therefore be a concern for all Virginians, regardless of gender or political persuasion.

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[1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/va-politics/va-republicans-block-ultrasound-repeal/2013/01/17/fdba1176-60d5-11e2-a389-ee565c81c565_story.html

[2] http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/va-politics/va-republicans-block-ultrasound-repeal/2013/01/17/fdba1176-60d5-11e2-a389-ee565c81c565_story.html

[3] http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/va-politics/va-republicans-block-ultrasound-repeal/2013/01/17/fdba1176-60d5-11e2-a389-ee565c81c565_story.html