We've Had Enough
 
Dear Virginia, (CC: outraged left wing media)

Your little legislature was wrong. There is a state more demeaning to women than you. Up here across the Mason Dixon line, we’ve managed to come up with a forced ultrasound bill more cruel and medically unnecessary than yours! (It was tough, I’ll be honest)

If our bill becomes law, women will have to wait at least 24 hours after their ultrasound before an abortion, no matter how far away they live from the provider. And here in Pennsylvania, 113 of the 203 elected state Representatives have signed on to our ultrasound bill. That’s more than your twelve by a long shot!

Our bill FORCES the doctor to turn the ultrasound screen towards the woman’s face. Don’t worry – we avoided constitutional meddling by “allowing her” to look away. I heard you only give ‘the opportunity’ to view the ultrasound image. LAME!

LOVE the “free ultrasound providers” bit! We did that, too, so now we can funnel women to those so-called “crisis pregnancy centers” where they can be fed state-funded, unregulated misinformation. We don’t even require that ultrasound providers have any training!

Oh and you’ll love the part about the printouts – listen to this. We’re going to make the woman take TWO prints with her – one for her scrapbook, and the other one SHE has to bring to the doctor performing the abortion (if she hasn’t been shamed out of it at this point! LOL).

And come on now, only civil penalties? Our bill includes civil and criminal penalties for doctors and patients who dare defy our legislating of medicine.

Nice try, Virginia. But you’ve got nothin’ on Pennsylvania.

Your partner in crime,

Pennsylvania

Virtue, Liberty and Independence (Unless you’re a woman)
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You’ve probably heard about the Virginia ultrasound bill recently, but did you realize Pennsylvania has a bill pending that’s even worse? The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is poised to take up HB 1077, the disingenuously titled “Women’s Right to Know Act”. Are you ready to stop the cruel, demeaning attacks on women in Pennsylvania? Sign the petition and urge your representative to vote NO on HB 1077 and stop this demeaning and unnecessary bill from becoming law in Pennsylvania.

 
 
By Shana Mihovics

Somewhere along the way we lost our recognition of the color grey. Yet, it's there. Whether life begins at conception, or whether it is when there is a sign of purpose, or consciousness or at birth, these are complex questions on which there is no universal agreement. No one's situation is the same. No one's options are ever the same. Life isn't fair and circumstances are not always equal. 13,000 women become pregnant every year due to rape or incest. One woman dies every seven minutes around the world due to an unsafe abortion. Those facts are black and white. 

Here at Planned Parenthood, we try to help women have as much black and white in their lives as possible in a proactive, positive way. We educate, we support, and we offer services to help them plan their lives and their choices.

But there's always going to be grey in life. Thank you Roe vs. Wade for the compassion and logic that Roe vs. Wade made possible. Not wanting to acknowledge grey won't ever get rid of the color.

Shana is an intern at Planned Parenthood Advocates of PA.