SC Says No to Forced Sonography

Via Feministing - Another stumble for the anti-choicers:

A legislative panel on Thursday dropped a measure from an abortion bill that would have made South Carolina the only state to require women to review an ultrasound images of the fetus before terminating a pregnancy.

The anti-choice movement has made the promotion of sonography a major part of their strategy. At the conservative summit, Robert George paired it with "de-funding" abortion as a primary focus for anti-choice efforts going foward. Talk to Action, in the course of a very interesting profile of prominent anti-abortion doctor Eric Keroack, described how Keroack "pioneer[ed] the use of ultrasound as a high-tech weapon in the war on abortion."

[T]he A Woman's Concern centers directed by Keroack delay women's access to abortion care by suggesting to them that early miscarriages are common, that they could have an ectopic pregnancy or a blighted ovum, and that it would be best to wait a few weeks before making an appointment for an abortion: "For the CPC counselors, meanwhile, the extra 2-3 weeks provide another opportunity to persuade the woman that she should continue her pregnancy. And if the process calls for a follow-up ultrasound examination, there is one more opportunity for the mother to bond with her unborn child."

As T2A notes, the use of sonography for non-medical purposes has been condemned by professional medical organizations, but since when have legitimate scientific or ethical standards mattered to the obscuritanist fringe?

The proposed South Carolina law represented the first attempt to actually require women to have sonograms. Rightfully, the provision was denounced as totalitarian, and dropped from the larger bill:

"[The revised bill] is not forcing a woman to do something against her will," said Sen. Linda Short, the only woman in the Senate and a member of the subcommittee that dropped the measure.

The whole thing echoes the South Dakota abortion ban fiasco. Once again, the anti-choice movement overreaches in a conservative state, and once again they suffer an embarrassing defeat.

Labels: abortion, Feministing

  ¶ Posted by Paul Curtis 3:37 PM