ultrasound image. now, the ultrasound technician would be required to describe the image to the patient and force her to listen to the fetal heartbeat. here s how the bill s sponsor, state senator jim tracy, explains his motivation. my wife had three babies and i ve had the opportunity to see three ultrasounds. it s pretty amazing to see the ultrasounds. yet the bill doesn t make any exceptions for victims of rape or incest and perhaps the most extreme out of touch bunch in america you ll find in iowa, where republicans have introduced a bill there that would define abortion as murder. as the ames tribune newspaper reports and says, those charged with murder under the bill would include a mother who takes abortion-inducing drugs or a
the gop has resumed its war on women with republicans in michigan plotting the next battle. on tuesday republicans introduced a bill requiring all women to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound before having an abortion. now, you may recall similar measures were introduced last year in virginia, but republicans backed off after serious pushback by a number of groups p tonight republicans in michigan seem to find themselves in a very similar predicament. house speaker jace bulger now says he has absolutely no interest in forcing a woman to have a transvaginal ultrasound. bulger vowed his chamber would not adopt any kind of legislation that would require the procedure. meanwhile, in tennessee republicans want to mandate a less invasive yet still medically unnecessary transabdominal ultrasound if a woman refuses to view the ultrasound image. now, the ultrasound technician would be required to describe the image to the patient and
that was well promised in health care reform-s that low-income americans will be able to have access to good-quality health care. and of course with women it s essential that they get access to good-quality reproductive health care. so it s i want to say criminal that they re being excluded. what do you make of iowa? this is as aggressive as it s ever been. your thoughts. well, i think what s happening in iowa isn t good. but what people have to understand, and this goes to martha s point, is that there are so many of these restrictions on access to abortion that are flying under the radar screen. once in a while it pops up. but it s important that you re having this on your show tonight so that people realize, i mean, there have been 400 bills dropped in state legislatures this year just on access to abortion. and so it s important that we realize, yes, iowa, north dakota, mississippi, and arkansas it almost brings the women s movement, martha, to a new age of activism. i me
doctor who performs an abortion. it also grants no exceptions for rape, insist, or to protect the life of the mother. so here we go again. i m joined tonight by terry o neil, president of the national organization for women. also with us tonight is nancy northup, who is the president for the center for reproductive rights. and actress martha plimpton joins us this evening. martha joins us from the set of her tv series raising hope, which airs tuesdays on fox. great to have all of you with us tonight. terry, isn t this just more evidence, i mean, the republican party s been talking about rebranding and here we are back at square one, they re back after the same old wars? what about it? you know, ed, i think what they don t understand is that they need to change their policies. changing their rhetoric is not enough. and suddenly you have the legislator from michigan backing off. i don t believe they re really backing off that far. what they think they can do is use kinder, gentler la
them. but we must agree on every single american s right to live their life as they see fit and to experience physical autonomy. and one of the ways that we can do that is by ensuring that women have the right to access abortion and other reproductive health care services and also recognizing that women deserve and have the right to speak out about being protected in their homes and their workplaces and et cetera with the violence against women act. martha plimpton, thank you for your time tonight. nancy northup and terry o neill. always great to have you with us tonight on the ed show. thanks for joining us. coming up, the best commercial from super bowl sunday gets even better with a little help from funny or die. we ll show you that next. stay with us. call my next of kin. at 33 years old, i was having a heart attack. now i m on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i didn t know this could happen so you