same policy had come up in a different state with an ambitious governor the year before, but that one got no national notice at all. in 2011, it was texas. and texas governor rick perry, he held a big ceremonial signing event to usher in his state's forced vaginal ultrasound law. but it was met with no mainstream national outrage. unlike virginia, the republicans who put that law forward were not forced to defend it on national tv. it didn't attract so much attention that it derailed all the other things that they wanted to do, and they wanted to be known for. it didn't get made fun of on "saturday night live." it did not attract a national political spotlight from people all over the country who were horrified by the idea of what they were doing, even though they did exactly the same thing as virginia. in 2011, that did not happen. but in 2012, it did. and that outrage in 2012 had far-reaching consequences. virginia first passed its first ultrasound bill on february 1st of last year. february 14th is when it started to get attention. up until that point, after texas's success the year before, after it looked like virginia was steaming right along with