Janet Howell, Virginia State Senator, Attaches Rectal Exam Amendment To Anti-Abortion Bill

To protest a bill that would require women to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion, Virginia State Sen. Janet Howell (D-Fairfax) on Monday attached an amendment that would require men to have a rectal exam and a cardiac stress test before obtaining a prescription for erectile dysfunction medication.

"We need some gender equity here," she told HuffPost. "The Virginia senate is about to pass a bill that will require a woman to have totally unnecessary medical procedure at their cost and inconvenience. If we're going to do that to women, why not do that to men?"

The Republican-controlled senate narrowly rejected the amendment Monday by a vote of 21 to 19, but passed the mandatory ultrasound bill in a voice vote. A similar bill in Texas, which physicians say has caused a "bureaucratic nightmare," is currently being challenged in court.

Howell said she is not surprised her amendment failed.

"This is more of a message type of an amendment, so I was pleased to get 19 votes," she said.

She pointed out that there are only seven women in the Virginia senate, and six of them voted in favor of her amendment, along with 13 male senators. Sen. Jill Vogel (R-Fauquier County), the sponsor of the mandatory ultrasound bill, voted against it.

“I do believe that erectile dysfunction in this context is different from pregnancy,” she said on the senate floor.

The Senate will formally vote on the mandatory ultrasound bill on Tuesday.

Comments

[Cecilia Fx]

11:15 AM on 03/25/2013

"The Republican-controlled senate narrowly rejected the amendment Monday by a vote of 21 to 19....."

soooooooo, republicans REALLY want something shoved up their rectums?

I'd be happy to oblige :)

[Margie Redmon]

09:54 PM on 08/17/2012

Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't a penis involved with producing the unwanted pregnancy? Using a trans vaginal ultra-sound is not the best way to check for a fetus, but doing a rectal exam on the presumed male contributor, might make him reconsider using condoms, at least.

[AskandThink]

11:56 PM on 03/13/2012

Dear Janet,
If I may suggest an amendment to your bill…..

Would you please consider just limiting this to the male Congress person’s class?

Thanks!
Always Thinking

; p)

[mmsuki]

04:18 PM on 03/13/2012

Unfortunately, we still have the likes of Jill Vogel (R) in state legislatures.

[SmartladyDem]

04:13 PM on 03/05/2012

I came up with rectal exam to go with a Viagra Prescription-

Did that Senator read my post?? Who knows?

[HisGirlFriday]

10:29 PM on 02/29/2012

Just like Constance Johnson's spilled semen amendment in Virginia, this makes me SO DAMN HAPPY!

[nonjudgemental]

05:32 PM on 02/28/2012

WAY to GO, Janet. Of course you knew it would get nowhere but it at least made a statement.

[howie G]

03:32 PM on 02/27/2012

All the pro-choicers made up their scare tactics about forced ultrasounds. Planned parenthood was already doing what was in the bill they were protesting. Not saying I agree with making a woman get an ultrasound, but the way they portrayed Republicans almost as forcing them to be raped, was ridiculous.

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pro-aborts-completely-made-up-vaginal-ultrasound-requirement-in-virginia-bi

[mmsuki]

04:22 PM on 03/13/2012

Yeh, the bill was amended AFTER the public outrage over the transvaginal clause.

It was there originally.

[Margie Redmon]

09:59 PM on 08/17/2012

A trans vaginal ultrasound IS a form of rape, unless there is a clear need for a diagnosis. I have to get one every year, because I have a benign cyst on one of my ovaries. It is the most painful procedure I can imagine, and I HAVE HAD A BABY DELIVERED VAGINALLY!

[cornflower]

07:13 AM on 02/27/2012

Where can I contribute to Janet Howell's re-election campaign? I want more news about Janet HOwell and less about Bob McDonald and Ken Cucinelli.

[Anatta Guatam]

09:50 AM on 02/26/2012

In Kenya, there's an epidemic of men violently beating their wives. Nope fooled ya, it's the other way around, and while this happens we use our collective energy in America to call enforcing federal abortion laws woman-hating. Ridiculous and gender biased! http://ncfm.org/2012/02/uncategorized/kenyan-men-boycot-meals-over-beatings-form-abusive-women/

[Katherine Nichols]

11:04 PM on 07/24/2012

I understand your concern over the men, but lets face it 4600 reported beatings to the MILLIONS of reported and unreported rapes occuring in Africa, Kenya is reporting the news on the men because its SO COMMON for the women to be raped, murdered, and tortured by their husbands and male family members. I don't feel that bad for them, there's probably a reason all those women snapped, maybe because they were being beaten every day and they finally found the strength to lash out. http://allafrica.com/stories/201202270302.html

[mmmmikkimac]

03:27 PM on 02/22/2012

I LOVE IT! I LOVE IT! I LOVE IT! I am turning around three times as I say this and hope we don't get sent back to the dark ages and that mind set.

[swamijo]

10:16 AM on 02/22/2012

these Repugnant phony 'religious' extremists have gone off the charts with their anti-life BS...the billionaires with the REAL power know there's not enough of them to outvote us (of course!) so they have to convince enough brain dead 'christians' to het worked up over this kind of non-sense in order to have a CHANCE of winning ANYTHING! They are the lowest of low lifes and need to take their place next to Neanderthals as the evolutionary dead-end of failed genetic mutation (mental retardation is nothing to laugh about, but marrying your sister is!)

[libertarain]

07:03 PM on 02/21/2012

The new Virgina state laws for forcing women to have invasive ultrasounds before following through with abortions is a violation of so many rights. This is not my angle, i want to remind everyone here that such a requirement is not necessary. Mandatory procedures are meant to be in place to protext the patient. These procedures do not help the health of the patient, they do not better diagnose the patient either. They are only in place to force patients to wait on a decision that they make. If a patient chooses to have such a procedure, then the right shall be afforded to them. This new "over-the-top" law should not infringe on such rights be making a physically unnecessary procedure mandatory. This is a simple case of government over governing.

[Field4]

05:41 PM on 02/21/2012

How about the gender equality for the unborn baby. What is so wrong with an ultrasound? If there is nothing wrong with the choice then nothing will change with an ultrasound. It is not a choice if you are mislead into thinking that is just a bunch of cells. Being fully informed is important in making a choice.

[girlgoneriled]

12:00 AM on 02/22/2012

It's not just "an ultrasound". It's a transvaginal probe. They're requiring an invasive and unnecessary medical procedure for women who want to exercise their right to bodily autonomy.

It's rape.

[O Brolaigh]

11:34 AM on 02/22/2012

It IS rape, state mandated rape of a pregnant woman. And don't forget, an amendment to this repulsive bill that would require all men seeking a prescription for erectile dysfunction drugs (Viagra, Cialis, etc.) first receive an anal exam by a proctologist and a cardiac stress test was voted down.

[thatdogguy]

07:29 PM on 02/23/2012

So if a pregnant woman to wants to keep her baby has an ultrasound, it's a procedure.
But it becomes rape if she is there to have an abortion?

[Ankhorite]

06:18 AM on 03/04/2012

It's a medically unnecessarily vaginal penetration performed against the woman's will and without her free consent. Withholding her legal right to an abortion is not free consent.

It's rape. And it's expensive. And because it's useless, insurance doesn't pay for it. And now with the exception for raped women, the Legislature is admitting that this was never about "giving women more information" -- it was always, and still is, about punishing women for seeking abortion.

If you want to control a uterus, then buy yourself a cow, and quit trying to force your opinion into laws to be used to degrade women.

[mollymary]

07:20 PM on 02/22/2012

lol...you made me laugh because I was so angry at what is being done to women against their will. thank you. what have we come to with these Republicans wanted big goverment out of our lives but big goverment in our vaginas. They are a real sicko party, but of course it is to keep us off the real issues of jobs and the 1% paying their fair share.