While most of us associate wands with Harry Potter, the fairy tale term has taken on a shocking new meaning this week.
This is thanks to politicians in Virginia who, in a fit of Pro-life fervor decided to go pro-wand.
The wand in question is a device utilized for internal ultrasounds may often be described as “wand-like,” it’s far from magical.
This wand was part of one of the three anti-abortion laws that have been moving through the Virginia General Assembly. The ultrasound legislation has received the most volatile response from the public.
In its original form, the bill required any woman getting an abortion to undergo a highly invasive, transvaginal ultrasound using, you guessed it, the dreaded wand.
This provoked a huge response from opponents, who gathered about 33,000 petition signatures opposing the measure. It didn’t take very long for Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell to alter recent legislation regarding ultrasounds for women seeking abortions.
As he explains:
The House set about quickly amending the bill after Gov. McDonnell’s statement. Thus, the legislation that passed the Virginia House of Delegates today by a 65-32 vote still mandates an ultrasound, but the procedure will be done externally, on the woman’s abdomen.
Though a few aspects of the bill may have been mitigated, the debate still rages on.
Should a woman be forced to get an ultrasound, however noninvasive it may be? How much more will it cost to perform one? Will women have to bear the brunt of the ultrasound’s cost when the original procedure they sought was an abortion?
It appears it might take a real magic wand to resolve this issue once and for all.
