A Different Take on Legislation Promoting Ultrasounds

Efforts have been made in various state legislatures in the last few years to pass laws that would mandate that information about the availability of ultrasound be given to a woman before she can obtain abortion. These well- intended laws are deficient in major areas and are not the most effective means to insure that an abortion-minded mother benefits from the powerful impact of ultrasound.

All of these laws require that certain ultrasound information be given to the woman, by the abortionist doctor – the one who is going to financially benefit from the decision to abort! How objective and credible is such a person going to be? A second criticism of the laws passed is that they compel a mother to receive information that she may not wish to have. Finally, an examination of many of the laws actually passed show that they are inadequate in ensuring that a woman contemplating abortion will actually see an ultrasound image of her child.

NIFLA strongly recommends that proposed ultrasound legislation include the concerns that a mother be informed of whether she has a viable pregnancy. The law should require that before a woman undergoes an abortion that she receive a medical opinion that her pregnancy is a viable pregnancy. This, of course, can only be done by an ultrasound exam. The importance of this information lies in the fact that if the pregnancy is not viable then she will miscarry and need not succumb to the brutal abortion procedure.

Second, the law should specifically state that the physician providing the medical opinion regarding the viability of the pregnancy be a physician who does not have a vested financial interest in the abortion decision. This would mean that the woman, before having an abortion, would have to be referred to another medical facility to undergo the ultrasound to determine the viability of the pregnancy. In practical terms, she would be able go to a pro-life PRC medical clinic that provides free ultrasound exams to get this information. LifeNews

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