For those of you who aren’t aware, Idaho is a one party state. Sure, there are a handful of Democrats in the state legislature and it wasn’t that long ago that there was even a Democrat representing Idaho’s first congressional district in the last US congress, but Republicans control the state legislature. It’s not too bad when it’s the more reasonable, moderate Republicans in control, but in the last few elections the Tea Party has seized control.

HB 530 which would allow all employers, regardless of reason to not provide insurance policies that include coverage for contraceptives has passed it’s first committee vote by a vote of 7-3.

Now, according to an action alert I received from Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest a bill will be introduced on Monday, February 27 that will mirror Virginia’s recent legislation that would require trans-vaginal and trans-abdominal ultrasound prior to an abortion. While there are many very good objections to this kind of legislation, I don’t think we need to go any further than it’s a political move to mandate an unnecessary medical procedure. Let doctors and patients make those decisions and don’t make an already difficult and painful procedure worse.

As far as the political angle, this picture I saw on Living After Faith‘s Rich Lyon‘s Facebook wall sums it up well, as it involves an anatomy image that may not be safe for work, it’s below the fold: