A look at the day’s political happenings, including the death of the Virginia GOP’s gerrymandering scheme and a Republican lawmaker in Idaho who wants to make Ayn Rand required reading in high school.
Virginia—the state that brought you a proposed law that would have mandated an invasive transvaginal ultrasound before an abortion—has come up with another insane way, backed by state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, above, to try to prevent women from getting the legal procedure. And this time, it has nothing to do with the female body.
The medical instrument some Republican lawmakers want to be shoved up your vagina before you get an abortion is the star of North Carolina state Senate candidate Deb Butler’s latest attack ad on her GOP opponent.
After a multimedia outcry that included a bit on “Saturday Night Live,” Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell withdrew support from a bill that would require women getting an abortion to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound beforehand. And yes, that’s every bit as unpleasant and invasive as it sounds.