The women of Virginia sent a powerful message to state legislators Monday.
Nearly 1,000 people -- mostly women -- stood arm-in-arm along the pathway to the Capitol building in Richmond to silently protest a number of state bills that they say would outlaw abortion and make the morning-after pill illegal.
The protest was about bills that would define embryos as humans and criminalize their destruction, require "transvaginal" ultrasounds of women seeking abortions and cut state aid to poor women seeking abortions, according to The Associated Press.
The protest seemed to have an impact.
The House was scheduled to vote today on the bill that would require all women to get a transvaginal ultrasound prior to an abortion, but the bill’s sponsor opted to postpone the vote.
From news broadcasts to a Saturday Night Live skit, these anti-abortion bills have been getting attention nationwide.
On “Saturday Night Live’s segment “Really? With Seth and Amy,” Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler did what they do best and mocked the Virginia bill.
“The Virginia House of Representatives this week passed a bill that required women to have a transvaginal ultrasound before having an abortion,” Poehler said. “Really? Now don’t get me wrong. I love transvaginal. It’s my favorite airline.”
Click here to watch the video.
* Democrat Tim Kaine, former Virginia governor and candidate for U.S. senate, wrote a column in the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star pledging his commitment to higher education if elected.
To secure our place as the global leader of the 21st-century talent economy, we need to make smart investments in education from early childhood to adulthood, create the most well-trained and most skilled workforce in the world, and establish an immigration system that welcomes talented people from across the world to our shores.
If we commit, as Virginia has, to developing the talent of our own workforce, then attracting talent to the United States, we will build the kind of sustained economic prosperity our children deserve.
* A Virginia bill that passed through a Senate committee today would prohibit local governments from banning workers from keeping firearms and ammunition locked in their vehicles parked in publicly-owned lots, The Roanoke Times reports.
The bill would not prevent localities from banning guns inside the workplace.
Public schools, regional and local jails, juvenile detention facilities and local behavioral health offices would be exempted from the bill.
* Virginia legislation that would have prohibited the use of GPS devices to track people without their knowledge failed in a Senate committee today.
The bill was inspired by a Virginia resident who discovered that a private detective hired by his wife could legally put a GPS tracking device on his car without his consent.
* The Washington Post reports that hundred of Maryland Catholics were expected to converge in Annapolis today to protest the bill to legalize same-sex marriages in the state.
The House narrowly passed the bill last week and the Senate is expected to pass it by the end of this week.
Kathy Dempsey, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Catholic Conference, which is coordinating Monday night’s lobbying efforts, told The Post that church leaders and members will also thank delegates who voted against the bill and urge senators to oppose it.
* Former Virginia Congressman Virgi Goode is expected to officially announce his run for presidency Tuesday afternoon.
Goode, who is running as a member of the Constitution Party, served in Congress from 1997 to 2009 and lost his seat in the 2008 election.
