Song parodies Virginia's 'mandatory transvaginal ultrasound'

"Song a Day" video blogger Jonathan Mann published a little tune yesterday that seems destined to go viral, keying into the state of Virginia's debate about abortion restrictions and whether the state should be able to force women into medically unnecessary transvaginal ultrasounds, just to obtain abortion services.

"Why you just open up your vagina / and Virginia will go in there and look around / with a mandatory transvaginal ultrasound," he sings. "Well they'll pat you down at the airport / like a criminal so heinous / pull up to a stoplight / and they will probe your anus / with a great big sky above you / and solid ground beneath ya / from your oral cavity on down to your urethra."

Shortly after performing the song, Mann said that he read news that Virginia Republicans had toned down the bill to require only external ultrasounds, and any doctor who fails to perform the procedure prior to an abortion could be prosecuted under the new law.

In spite of these weakened provisions, it's not clear whether the alterations will actually do away with the transvaginal ultrasound provisions, since an external ultrasound often cannot detect a fetus at the earliest stage of gestation, when many abortions are performed.

Since the law requires that an image of the cellular growth be captured -- although, it allows subjects to refuse seeing it -- the law may still end up forcing many women to undergo a Republican-mandated vaginal probe in order to terminate a pregnancy.

"[That's] still crappy," Mann said. "Maybe just not quite as crappy as the transvaginal one where they stick the ultrasound in the private parts... But it's still crappy, so I still think that this song stands. Damn you, Virginia."

This video is from musician Jonathan Mann, published Feb. 22, 2012.