Political Talk

Though I might have years ago, I would never wish rape on anyone—not a rapist, not a killer, not even CNN contributor Dana Loesch, who seems to think that if something doesn’t involve a penis, it’s not rape at all. Upon hearing that there were laws being mulled over (including one that sweepingly passed in Virginia) that included women being forced to have vaginal ultrasounds prior to an abortion, Loesch—whom, I am ashamed to admit, is from my hometown—claims that being forced to have an ultrasound vaginally is not different than consensual sex.

Unfortunately, I am not joking with this one.

Loesch says that since pregnant women have no trouble having a vaginal procedure that resulted in a pregnancy in the first place, they should have no trouble getting the forced vaginal procedure done in the state. Let me tell you something: I have had to have three vaginal ultrasounds—one for my early pregnancy and two to identify post-pregnancy complications—and none were pleasant. One, done by a man, made me feel as if I were raped, and I actually found myself crying at the painful—both emotionally and physically—procedure.

Women who are getting an abortion are already going through enough pain. The ones I have spoken with describe gut-wrenching, soul-searching decisions—many that were of life and death, and all that were in all seriousness—that were not pleasant. All of the ones I’ve spoken with are grateful that they were able to have the abortion, though many had to jump through hoops to get the services.

But Loesch paints a picture of a party girl frivolously having sex here and there who shouldn’t mind yet another poke in her body. This crass ass obviously has no respect for her fellow women and doesn’t give a damn about their lives or their physical health—not to mention their mental health, which a vaginal ultrasound could only harm. When local progressives wrote about her and the local Tea Party dumped her, I simply dismissed her as another nut fallen from the radical right-wing tree unworthy of following; but here she is on CNN, declaring to the world that rape isn’t rape and women shouldn’t mind getting penetrated again if they’ve already been on the receiving end already.

Why is it that the microphones are always blaring when someone who hates women is speaking? Where are all of the women’s advocates? I am betting that some of them are afraid of being called prostitutes in front of the entire world by Rush Limbaugh.

Of course, this forced penetration does fit the new FBI definition of rape.