The "meanwhile" series is something I do when I read really horrible things concerning women. May that stand as a general warning.
Here's the Oklahoma news. They are not ultimately horrible because the governor vetoed the bill (for the time being). But check out what was proposed:
Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry vetoed two abortion bills that he said are an unconstitutional attempt by the Legislature to insert government into the private lives and decisions of citizens.
One measure would have required women to undergo an intrusive ultrasound and listen to a detailed description of the fetus before getting abortions. Henry said Friday that legislation is flawed because it does not allow rape and incest victims to be exempted.
Lawmakers who supported the vetoed measures promised an override vote in the House and Senate as early as next week. A national abortion rights group has said the ultrasound bill would have been among the strictest anti-abortion measures in the United States if it had been signed into law.
Henry said "it would be unconscionable to subject rape and incest victims to such treatment" because it would victimize a victim a second time.
"State policymakers should never mandate that a citizen be forced to undergo any medical procedure against his or her will, especially when such a procedure could cause physical or mental trauma. To do so amounts to an unconstitutional invasion of privacy," he said.
Under the ultrasound legislation, doctors would have been required to use a vaginal probe in cases where it would provide a clearer picture of the fetus than a regular ultrasound. Doctors have said this is usually the case early in pregnancies, when most abortions are done.
Let's recap: First, a rapist rapes you and impregnates you. Then you cannot have an abortion without a vaginal probe being inserted to take ultrasound pictures which you then must look at. Yeah, it does sound like a second rape, because you couldn't have opted out of the procedure.
And what does the head of the forced-birth people in Oklahoma say?
Tony Lauinger, state chairman of the anti-abortion group Oklahomans for Life and vice president of the National Right to Life Committee, said each of the measures are designed to protect the unborn as well as pregnant women.
"It is just as important for a woman who is pregnant as a result of rape or incest as it is for any other woman to have the benefit of full and complete information prior to taking the irrevocable step of having her baby [sic] aborted," Lauinger said.
Note that the proposed law didn't just offer a rape victim this option. It required her to be subjected to it. Lauinger is an evil asshole.