The utter fecklessness of Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick is becoming more apparent by the day. Last week she decided that a proposed Virginia law, one that the Republican governor has suddenly gone squishy on, is the equivalent of rape because it could conceivably require something be “inserted into the vagina, and then moved around.”

Since then we’ve discovered that not only did Lithwick simply lie about what the law required and we’ve found that Virginia Planned Parenthood requires two ultrasounds with each abortion. Presumably to insure they only kill half their patients.

To hear Lithwick tell it, a trans-vaginal ultrasound is a horror tool invented by rich, white, elderly Republicans to enslave and defile women who only want to be left in peace to dismember their unborn child. The truth is quite different, and in the context of this artificial kerfuffle, and quite ironic.

From LifeNews:

Abortion advocates in Virginia have come under heavy criticism for equating the ultrasound legislation there would allow women to see before an abortion to rape.  Yet, while abortion backers say having an ultrasound is like getting raped, a 2003 study shows 99% of Planned Parenthood abortion facilities do them beforehand.

Apparently, in 2003 the medical journal Contraception reported on a survey conducted of abortion providers in the United States (article hosted by LifeNews). The finding, 99% of abortion providers either always or frequently used vaginal ultrasound for surgical abortions. 92% of the sites providing mifepristone induced abortions did vaginal ultrasound.

Based on the evidence thus far, the worst that can be said of the proposed Virginia law is that is recognizes the standard practice used in 99% of abortion facilities. The best that can be said about Lithwick is that she’s a mendacious know-nothing.