The extremism on display in the Virginia General Assembly seems to know few limits. The GOP controlled body is focused on making a full court press in the culture wars and seems Hell bent to make Mississippi and Alabama look like progressive states - no small task. Besides advancing a "personhood" bill that would define life as beginning at the moment a fertilized egg exists, the Christianist are seeking to add further restrictions on women seeking an abortion. Apparently just in case the personhood bill fails or gets struck down in court. Not surprisingly, in the midst of this batshitery is gay-hater extraordinaire Bob Marshall. Also not surprisingly, the Christofascists at The Family Foundation are supporting the bills. When are witch trials going to be made legal? The Virginian Pilot looks at the ongoing insanity. Here are highlights:
Virginia is indeed becoming a very scary place.
The Republican-dominated House of Delegates is poised to pass legislation declaring that life begins at conception, despite concerns by some Democrats that the bill's broad language could affect access to certain types of birth control.
The House advanced the legislation (HB1) on a voice vote Monday, setting up a vote today on the bill's passage. Today is the final day for each house of the General Assembly to act on its own legislation. Social issues have been major flashpoints in the first half of the legislative session.
The House on Monday also advanced legislation (HB462) that would require a woman to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion. The Senate already has passed an identical measure and Gov. Bob McDonnell has expressed support for the legislation, which abortion-rights advocates have denounced as an intrusive government mandate on doctors and pregnant women.
The [personhood] bill, sponsored by Del. Bob Marshall, R-Prince William County, states that unborn children "at every stage of development" have the same rights as other individuals except where the U.S. Constitution, U.S. Supreme Court interpretations, or state laws say otherwise.
[T]he House voted not to take up an amendment proposed by Del. Vivian Watts, D-Fairfax County, to clarify that the bill would not apply to "lawful contraception." Watts raised concerns that the law could be interpreted as banning contraceptive methods that prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg. Intrauterine devices, or IUDs, and birth-control pills can work in that manner.
Del. Jennifer McClellan said the bill "requires every single code section in Virginia that uses the word 'person' to apply to a fetus." "That opens families and doctors to a wide variety of criminal and civil lawsuits for health care decisions not only in cases of unwanted pregnancies, but every pregnancy and even miscarriage," McClellan said in a statement.
Virginia is indeed becoming a very scary place.
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