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What information does it give the woman that she doesn't already know?
That this is not just some blob of goo, it is a person inside her. If she realizes that five years after the abortion, it is a bit late.
There are lots of procedures that require invasive testing and full information before they can be performed. A state probably can legitimately decide it is better for a woman's long term mental heath is she is fully aware of the condition of the person inside of her before she decides to kill them.
That is not all that different than other requirements before certain procedures are undertaken. Showing her the baby via ultrasound makes more sense. It will help with the decision in either direction. Forcing her to listen the heartbeat - it seem more like punishment than information.
In April, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law on a 2-1 vote. Judge John Bush, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, wrote for the court that the law didn't violate the Constitution and provided "relevant information."
The information conveyed by an ultrasound image, its description and the audible beating fetal heart gives a patient a greater knowledge of the unborn life inside her," he wrote. "This also inherently provides the patient with more knowledge about the effect of an abortion procedure: it shows her what or whom she is consenting to terminate.
Justice Bush has absolutely no medical education whatsoever and is therefore not qualified to determine under what circumstances this information is relevant to either the doctor or patient. And while we're at it, the primary sponsor of this bill, Jeff Hoover, also lacks any medical training.
As an aside, Hoover was forced to resign from the Kentucky legislature in late 2017 because of a sexual harassment case involving a subordinate. Hoover, the state legislature's minority leader, was a one-note politician. Of the six bills he sponsored during his time as a legislator, five of them had to do with restricting abortion access, and the sixth involved religious freedom (aka, you can believe anything you wish about God as long as you agree with me).
You know, why not make every woman have a vaginal ultrasound as soon as she misses a period. That way, she can feel EXTRA SAD when her embryo is one of the 30% that spontaneously aborts in the first weeks.
(God doesn't seem to like embryos as much as some of these posters do)
When you consent to a procedure you consent to various steps and tests that can be invasive. All of a sudden you are concerned that medical procedures tend to be invasive.
There is no medical reason whatever to require an ultrasound before an abortion.
It is all about humiliation, shaming, and control.
There is no medical reason whatever to require an ultrasound before an abortion.
It is all about humiliation, shaming, and control.
Yes, an ultrasound may be needed to ensure the safety and effectiveness of the abortion procedure*, but the necessity for ultrasound should be determined by the health care provider at the time of pregnancy termination not by a bunch of legislators who have no medical training whatsoever. That is the issue with this law. Allowing legislators of dubious qualifications to dictate treatment protocols interferes with the physician's professional judgement.
* Ultrasound can be used to determine the stage of pregnancy, which allows the provider to determine which procedure is the best option for successful pregnancy termination.
It will be interesting to see whether it makes the slightest difference in the abortion rate. I'd imagine the decision to abort is already pretty difficult for many women, so I'm not clear this will change things significantly.
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