In the past, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has won acclaim from pro-choice groups for consistently vetoing anti-abortion legislation. Not so last Friday. Sebelius signed a bill requiring doctors to ask patients, 30 minutes before scheduled abortions, if they would like to see an ultrasound image of the fetus or hear its heartbeat.

Sebelius’ Senate confirmation hearings to become secretary of health and human services begin tomorrow. Over the past month, she has consistently been attacked by social conservatives for her pro-choice record.

—Dana Goldstein

Dana Goldstein, a former associate editor and writer at the Prospect, comes from a family of public-school educators. She received the Spencer Fellowship in Education Journalism, a Schwarz Fellowship at the New America Foundation, and a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellowship at the Nation Institute. Her journalism is regularly featured in Slate, The Atlantic, The Nation, The Daily Beast, and other publications, and she is a staff writer at the Marshall Project.