VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: A perfect illustration of how rights are taken away in the United States:

Option one: The most direct option is to try to make that thing illegal. If it turns out that you are treading on people’s constitutionally protected rights in order to try to make this thing illegal, then the courts, of course, will stop you and you’ll be left with fuzzier options. You could try persuading people not to do this thing you disapprove of, you could try persuasion, you could try scaring people, you could try threatening people — or go about making it so difficult to do the thing you disagree with that even though you can’t technically outlaw it, you can de facto prohibit it by making it almost impossible for anyone to do it.

That last option is a very effective means of eliminating rights in America, eliminating them even when it’s illegal to technically take that right away. “The Washington Post” has reported that the crusading super-conservative, increasingly high-profile attorney general of the state of Virginia, Mr. Ken Cuccinelli — has declared that the state can begin regulating first trimester abortion clinics. Because the anti-abortion movement has chased abortion services out of many hospitals and doctors offices, it is a service that is largely provided in specialized clinics now.

And right now, in Virginia, these clinics are regulated in the same way as other offices where patients receive other forms of outpatient services, places like, places where you get oral surgery or plastic surgery. But under the crusading attorney general’s new legal opinion, clinics that provide abortions could instead be regulated like hospitals — in which case, according to abortion rights groups, 17 of the 21 abortion providers in the state of Virginia would probably have to close their doors. If the attorney general got his way, those 21 clinics would be newly required to be no more than 15 miles from an emergency room. [ VIEW VIDEO FOR MORE DETAILS ]

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