It's official: two down, one to go

Yesterday I told you how three fundie-led efforts in the Florida legislature were, thank the FSM, in trouble. Today two of them officially were put to rest.

The ridiculous forced-ultrasound bill was killed in the Senate, although the margin was the thinnest possible: a 20-20 vote.

State law already requires an ultrasound before a woman can have an abortion in the second or third trimester. The bill would have extended that to the first trimester. It also would have added the requirement that the doctor give the woman the opportunity to look at the sonogram, although she could have declined.

Well, that ought to shut those fucking fundies up for a while, at least. And if that doesn't, maybe this will:

A license plate that would have become the first in the nation to prominently feature a religious symbol is unlikely to be on the road any time soon after state lawmakers did not include it in a bill Tuesday.

The plate, which included an image of a Christian cross, stained-glass window and the words "I Believe," is not in legislation passed late Tuesday that's now headed to the governor.

[...]

It could still be amended onto another bill, but the prospects of that were increasingly unlikely with few bills available on the Legislature's calendar to which it could be added.

The South Carolina legislature is also considering the same license plate, however, and it won key approval in the state Senate there Tuesday.

Well, let South Carolina bear the ignominy of the Christianist license plate. We already knew their legislature was pretty much backwards, anyway, when they tried for the forced ultrasound bill last year.

Odd that Florida seems to be facing a fundie assault a year after South Carolina did the same thing, don't you think? I mean, no offense to sensible South Carolinians, but do we really want to be taking our lead from South Carolina? Just wonderin' ...

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South Carolina is So. Fucking. Backwards.

Courtesy of trifecta of New Pairodimes, we learn that The Palmetto State will be requiring women seeking abortions to view an ultrasound image of the fetus beforehand, if proposed legislation to that effect passes.

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Women seeking abortions in South Carolina would be required to view an ultrasound image of their fetus before the procedure under a proposal gaining support from lawmakers. If enacted, it would be the first law of its kind in the nation.

The bill's chief sponsor, Rep. Greg Delleney, considers the bill a natural addition to the state's informed-consent law, which requires that women be told about fetal development and offered alternatives to abortion. The law requires a woman to have at least an hour to think about the information before ending her pregnancy.

Delleney's proposal would require patients to certify in writing that they viewed the ultrasound.

Democratic state Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter plans to lead the fight against the legislation when it comes up for debate later this month in the GOP-dominated House. But she said she expects the legislation to pass because even lawmakers who don't like the bill will be afraid to vote against it.

Get that? Lawmakers will be afraid to vote against the bill! Why in the world shouldn't they be afraid to vote for it?! This is what the right-wing collaboration of media and politics has brought us, and the only way to beat it is to take it on directly. But oh, no, they're afraid.

Trifecta goes even farther, analyzing this as yet another GOP specialty, an unfunded mandate:

Ok, it's not enough that you insult women into waiting an hour just in case they went to the women's clinic just on a lark, and decided to have an abortion instead of getting their car detailed.

Sadly, women still have abortions even after being humiliated this way, so there has to be another way to make them feel shittier about making a tough decision that is the right choice for them. There is nothing I can see here about who is going to pay for it. What is the cost going to be to the women? Are poor women going to be able to afford the ultrasound? Is the state going to pick up the tab, especially if the woman decides to go through the song and dance and still proceed?

It's sad that Greg Delleney has a forum for his twisted, extreme views. It's even sadder that South Carolina Democrats apparently are too chickenshit to challenge those views.