HB 4187 is about more than just the physical violation of a woman’s body with a transvaginal ultrasound wand. It is also about the mental and emotional violation of forcing women to view the most visually-detailed ultrasound images possible, in what is clearly an attempt to cause guilt and shame.
As a friend and colleague from Planned Parenthood so eloquently put it, Kansas is a “petri dish”—a place where the most extreme anti-abortion laws are conceived and tested. But students are organized and we are fighting back.
The bishops and their allies aren’t celebrating with us that the country’s huge unmet contraceptive need and rising rate of HIV infections may soon be somewhat ameliorated. Instead, they are busy planning the downfall of the legislators who courageously withstood the many statements that “contraception is corruption.”
The 20th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act offers a chance to reflect on its potential, and those that are still left without protection.
