The Virginia House gave final approval yesterday to two bills that will tighten abortion laws in the state. One requires women to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion, and the other states that life begins at conception.

The debate grew heated, and Deputy House Majority Leader C. Todd Gilbert (R) even suggested that women undergo abortions to maintain their “lifestyle.” He later apologized for his remarks:

“Abortion is a sad and deeply serious occurrence,’’ Gilbert said in a statement. “Individuals on both sides of this issue agree that it is tragic for all involved. I recognize that few women undergo the procedure lightly. It leaves scars, both mental and physical, that can last forever. I regret that my comments earlier today on the House floor were insensitive to that reality.’’

Gilbert, who opposes abortion rights, shocked opponents of a bill that would require women to undergo an ultrasound before an abortion when he said: “In the vast majority of these cases, these are matters of lifestyle convenience.”

The state Senate already approved the ultrasound bill, so now it goes to Gov. Bob McDonnell (R), who has already said he will approve the measure.

But two studies have already shown that ultrasounds do not influence women’s decisions on abortions. It is unclear if the GOP-controlled Senate will also approve the personhood measure. Last year, when Democrats controlled the Senate, they voted down a similar measure.

A few months ago tech giant Apple had some explaining to do when iPhone users discovered that the voice-activated assistant Siri was giving women misleading information about emergency contraception and abortion services.

Now Right Wing Watch reports that Siri may well have an evil twin sister in the form of Iris, the popular app for Verizon’s Android:

Iris – Siri spelled backwards – is the popular electronic assistant available for Android phones. It’s been downloaded over 1 million times and is powered by ChaCha, the Internet’s “leading answers service with more than a billion questions answered.” In other words, Iris may be a knockoff, but it’s no joke.

That’s why we were surprised when we saw the Family Research Council crowing about the Android being “as pro-life as they come” and watched their video…Iris’ answers are drawn from ChaCha, which provided a string of anti-choice answers to our questions:

Anti-abortion activists are celebrating the discovery of a kindred electronic ideologue. But Right Wing Watch notes that Iris doesn’t give such dogmatic answers to other controversial questions. For instance, “Iris failed to quote scripture in response to questions about adultery, birth control, homosexuality, working on the Sabbath, and eating shellfish (which are an ‘abomination before the Lord).”

Yesterday, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney joined the religious right in supporting the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s decision to stop funding Planned Parenthood, and said the government should do the same.

Of course, Romney’s past support for the right to choose has been well documented, but Romney’s connection to Planned Parenthood has been largely overlooked.

Mitt and Ann Romney attended a Planned Parenthood fundraiser in Cohasset, Massachusetts in 1994, and Ann wrote a $150 check to the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, various news outlets reported. “They were both there, and I remember very well chatting with both of them, and talking about his support for the pro-choice agenda,” Nicki Nichols Gamble, the president of the League told ABC News in 2007.

That year, the Boston Globe published this photo, which purportedly shows Romney at the fundraiser:

Asked about the fundraiser four years ago, Romney didn’t outright deny attending. “I attend a lot of events when I run for office. I don’t recall the specific event,” he told the AP in South Carolina four years ago.

During his successful race for Governor of Massachusetts 2002, Romney also signed a pro-choice pledge organized by Planned Parenthood.

See Think Progress’ full rundown of Mitt Romney’s evolving attitudes towards abortion.

Today, Karen Handel, Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s controversial Senior Vice President of Public Policy, resigned in protest of the organization’s decision to consider reinstating funding for cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood health centers.

Handel has been at the center of the firestorm surrounding the organization’s unpopular decision to sever ties with Planned Parenthood — a decision that was reversed just a few days later following a massive backlash from supporters and its own employees.

In her resignation letter, Handel openly acknowledges her integral role in formulating the policy designed to cut off Planned Parenthood funding. Just a few days ago, Komen founder and president Nancy Brinker claimed, “Let me just tell you for the record that Karen did not have anything to do with this decision.”

Handel does not specifically defend the rules she pushed through, but decries the charity’s decision to reverse course, arguing that the proper procedure was followed:

We can all agree that this is a challenging and deeply unsettling situation for all involved in the fight against breast cancer. However, Komen’s decision to change its granting strategy and exit the controversy surrounding Planned Parenthood and its grants was fully vetted by every appropriate level within the organization.

At the November Board meeting, the Board received a detailed review of the new model and related criteria. As you will recall, the Board specifically discussed various issues, including the need to protect our mission by ensuring we were not distracted or negatively affected by any other organization’s real or perceived challenges. No objections were made to moving forward.

I am deeply disappointed by the gross mischaracterizations of the strategy, its rationale, and my involvement in it. I openly acknowledge my role in the matter and continue to believe our decision was the best one for Komen’s future and the women we serve. However, the decision to update our granting model was made before I joined Komen, and the controversy related to Planned Parenthood has long been a concern to the organization.

Neither the decision nor the changes themselves were based on anyone’s political beliefs or ideology. Rather, both were based on Komen’s mission and how to better serve women, as well as a realization of the need to distance Komen from controversy.

The idea that Komen wanted to stop funding cancer screenings for poor women to distance itself from controversy is particularly ironic, given that their decision accomplished just the opposite. The organization’s popularity has plummeted and they are already struggling to lure back donors.

Handel not only has a long anti-choice history, but pledged to eliminate grants for Planned Parenthood to provide breast and cervical cancer screenings when she ran for governor of Georgia in 2010.

In the letter, Handel declines any severance package, which will allow her to speak openly about her differences with Komen.

On the campaign trail, Republican Rick Santorum has made attacking the Affordable Care Act a cornerstone of his stump speech. During an event on Friday, the former Pennsylvania senator supported a “death panels” claim that stroke patients over the age of 70 “will not be granted treatment” under President Obama’s health care reform plan. The claim is false, according to Health and Human Services officials, but Santorum said that “[w]hen you become a cost, then the government starts to allocate resources.”

Santorum warned that the United States could follow the way of the Netherlands, where, he (incorrectly) claimed euthaniasia represts “10 percent of all deaths.” He also bemoaned women’s access to safe and legal abortion services:

Look at what’s happened just in our tolerance for abortion. Fifty years ago…60 years ago, people who did abortions were in the shadows, people who were considered really bad doctors. Now, abortion is something to that is just accepted. [...] This is the erosion. And it happens in the medical profession. It happened very fast. And I think Obamacare will lead us down that road.

Watch the video from Right Wing Watch:

Of course, Santorum’s nostalgia for a time before doctors could legally perform abortions was also a time when women regularly died or were seriously injured by illegal procedures. Roughly 50 percent of all maternal deaths in the first half of the 20th century were from illegal abortions, and an estimated 160 to 260 women died each year in the 1950s and 1960s from illegal abortions. But for Santorum, the fact that women no longer face those dangers is a sign of what harm can come from health care reform, right along with fake death panels and false warnings about euthanasia.

After cheering for letting a young man die during a GOP debate, and wanting to repeal the Affordable Care Act, perhaps this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, but a new Daily Kos/PPP poll finds that a majority of conservatives have an “unfavorable” view of breast cancer screening services performed by Planned Parenthood. Just 25 percent have a positive view, compared to 51 percent with a negative one. The poll, of course, comes in the wake of the Susan G. Komen foundation’s decision to stop funding screening services at Planned Parenthood, but the results call in question what it means to be “pro-life,” as many conservatives identify themselves.

The poll also showed that Komen’s brand took a big hit in the controversy. A majority of all Americans, 53 percent, opposed Komen’s decision, while just 38 percent supported it. 49 percent said it made them less likely to support Komen financially in the future.