Unprobed Rage

Pro-choice advocate Margaret Doyle from Richmond, Va. is removed by Capitol Police from the General Assembly Building in Richmond after HB1, the bill that states human life begins at conception, passed the Senate Education and Health committee on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012. Eight Republicans voted for the measure, and the committee’s seven Democrats opposed it after an hour-long hearing on the bill that is similar to one in Missouri. The vote now sends the bill to the full Senate where Democrats and Republicans hold 20 seats apiece. (AP Photo/Richmond Times-Dispatch, Bob Brown)

We don’t usually see this level of passion on the part of protestors who demonstrate at state or federal Congressional hearings. Someone raises a pink sign or reveals a hidden slogan and they calmly agree to the polite toss from the chamber. Everyone knows it’s going to happen; all actors play their roles perfectly in front of the camera. But then, we’re talking here about State-enforced vaginal probes. Notice, by the way, how the State Capitol Policeman at the Richmond General Assembly Building responds to the ferocity, more taken aback than anything. Maybe what’s so striking about the photo, as much as the ferocity, is how Margaret Doyle’s reaction, in this latest battle in the war over women’s bodies, should come as such a surprise.

(photo: Bob Brown/Richmond Times-Dispatch/AP caption: Margaret Doyle from Richmond is removed by Capitol Police from the General Assembly after a bill that states human life begins at conception passed the Senate Education and Health Committee on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012.)