Virginia is poised to change its law to require that women who seek an abortion have to have an ultrasound. Sound harmless? Well, it's a transvaginal ultrasound. Which means penetration. Here's how it works. (WARNING: Extremely NSFW image to follow.)


Virginia is poised to change its laws to require any woman who seeks an abortion to have something called a transvaginal ultrasound. That's an ultrasound probe that takes place by having a wand inserted into the vagina. Because a woman's consent is not required, and doctors would not be able to opt-out, some are labeling this rape.


To some extent, this is a gadget story. Because the procedure in question is, very much, dependent on a very specific type of device, a transvaginal ultrasound probe. And the thing is, when you see one of these devices, or even a rendering of how it works, it all seems a little abstract.

So, it's useful to see the device being used as it would be in a clinical setting. As you can with the image below, which shows it in use on a mannequin designed to train technicians how to use a transvaginal ultrasound.

Is this invasive? You tell me.

[BluePhantom via Tim Dicknson]