Bill requiring ultrasounds for women seeking abortions

[Jazzy]

Gov. Scott Walker, R-Wis., took a deep dive into the divisive politics of abortion on Friday, signing a bill that would require women seeking an abortion to undergo an ultrasound and barring doctors without admitting privileges at local hospitals from performing abortions.

The bill, which takes effect Monday, will make Wisconsin the ninth state in the country to require women to receive an ultrasound procedure before an abortion.

Walker did not sign the bill in public. In a statement released Friday, according to The Associated Press, he said the measure "improves a woman's ability to make an informed choice that will protect her physical and mental health now and in the future."

Supporters of the bill have argued that more women would decide to carry a fetus to term if an ultrasound allowed them to see the unborn child. The law would force the technician administering the ultrasound to point out the fetus' visible organs and features.

Opponents have said that women shouldn't be compelled to undergo a medical procedure before deciding to terminate a pregnancy, arguing that the measure's true intent is to close as many abortion clinics in Wisconsin as possible by preventing doctors without admitting privileges at a local hospital from administering the procedure.

In a lawsuit filed just hours after Walker signed the bill into law, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin and the American Civil Liberties Union called the measure unconstitutional and asked for a temporary restraining order blocking it.

Because most abortions do not entail complications that would require a hospital visit, the lawsuit contends, many abortion doctors do not have admitting privileges at a local hospital, which are typically available only to physicians who can provide a minimum number of annual patient referrals. As a result, several abortion clinics across Wisconsin would have to close up shop, opponents of the bill said.

"What the Legislature has done is to set up a system where the ability to provide abortions is contingent on the decision of a private institution and that's unconstitutional," Lester Pines, an attorney for Planned Parenthood, told the AP.

Full article

In your opinion, do you think requiring a woman to have an ultrasound before an abortion is unconstitutional? Why/why not?

 

[Frost]

I do not think so at all. It's an elective thing and if you are choosing to murder a human being you should damn well know what you are doing. I think it's a great bill.