The Radical Right Loonies Win the Day in Richmond

The despicable Marshall pretending he can read.

If you were under the impression that the nutty fringe of our society had taken some time off, consider this from Today's Richmond Times Dispatch:

"On a 66-32 vote, the state's House of Delegates has passed legislation to define life as beginning at conception. After a passionate debate, the House also voted 63-36 to pass legislation to require women to undergo ultrasounds before abortion.

"House Bill 1, sponsored by conservative Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Prince William, would impart the rights of "personhood" to a human embryo at the moment of conception. Democrats railed on the legislation for the second day in a row, claiming it could be used to make it illegal to terminate a pregnancy or even allow women to use contraception that prevents the implantation of a fertilized egg."

You read that right: the bill would make the taking of the birth control pill illegal. The lying misogynists who voted for this bill are the same people who are saying those against it are exaggerating its consequences: the virtual enslavement of women. These women are enraged by this assault on their individual freedom and my guess is that the right-wing religious fanatics are poking a sharp stick at a sleeping giant. There is no exaggeration in the intent of these knuckle-dragging Cro-Magnons: they want to stop all birth control of any kind, and not just abortions. Of course, they say this bill has nothing to do with abortion or birth control. It's about them giving these poor dumb women the benefit of their vast experience and wisdom. They say that about every attempt to stop abortion.

It is time these people (Republican Dels. Robert Marshall and Jennifer McClellan are in the lead) are stopped, regardless of what it takes. And I think every alternative needs to be on the table. Let's take off the gloves.

Here's a response from my friend Betsy Gehman in Lynchburg, a woman who was a prominent part of the 1960s and 1970s women's rights movement. 

"The same people who so vehemently protest "the government sticking its nose into our business" seem to have no qualms at all about sticking their noses into the personal private lives of everyone else. Anyone with a brain and/or a conscience is aware that our population is staggering under the twin burdens of unemployment and rising numbers of people now living in poverty, due to that very unemployment!

"These careless elected officials might appeal to more voters when all those proliferating anti-abortion and anti-contraception bills include provisions for our state government to take on the financial burden of feeding, clothing, housing and educating all of the existing children now living (and dying) in the growing segment of official poverty.

"The concept of keeping women barefoot and pregnant seemed to work once upon a time. Will that subjugated position be forced on women& yet again? Stay tuned to the Reality Show currently playing in Richmond and - chillingly - in state houses all across America." 

(Photo: Richmond Times-Dispatch)