WASHINGTON (EWTN News) — A new bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., would require abortion providers to make an unborn child’s heartbeat visible and audible to its mother in order for her to give her informed consent for an abortion.
“A pregnant woman who enters an abortion clinic is faced with a decision that will forever change two lives,” said Bachmann. “That’s why she must have the very best information with which to make that decision.”
The Heartbeat Informed Consent Act, which was introduced in Congress on Oct. 6, is similar to laws in several states that require a pregnant woman to be given the chance to see ultrasound images of her unborn child before she chooses to have an abortion.
While ultrasounds are commonly performed at abortion businesses to determine the age of the fetus at the time of the abortion, the mother is rarely able to see the ultrasound images.
The proposed legislation would require abortion providers to give women the opportunity to see and hear the heartbeat of their unborn children before performing an abortion.
The bill notes it would not “prevent a pregnant woman from closing or averting her eyes from the ultrasound images required to be displayed or not listening to the description of the images required to be given.”
Abortion providers who fail to give women the option of seeing and hearing their unborn children’s heartbeat would be penalized under the act with fines up to $100,000 and up to $250,000 for repeat offenses.
Bachmann, who is currently running for the Republican presidential nomination, explained that the Heartbeat Informed Consent Act “would require that abortion providers make the unborn child’s heartbeat visible through ultrasound, describe the cardiac activity, and make the baby’s heartbeat audible, if the child is old enough for it to be detectable.”
“A study by Focus on the Family found that when women who were undecided about having an abortion were shown an ultrasound image of the baby, 78% chose life,” she said.
“An unborn baby’s heartbeat can be detected as early as five weeks after conception, and ultrasound technology is an amazing medical advance that provides a window for a pregnant woman to see her unborn child,” she explained.
“My legislation will not only enable this technology to be better used to protect life, but also to ensure that a woman who is considering abortion is finally able to give full and informed consent.”
The bill has 29 original co-sponsors. In addition, it has been endorsed by several pro-life groups, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, the Susan B. Anthony List and Heartbeat International.
“This bill provides concrete, positive and effective steps for Congress to protect women’s health,” stated Charmaine Yoest, president and CEO of Americans United for Life.
“Far too many women have been told that they were aborting a ‘blob of tissue,’ only to learn later that the unborn child already had a beating heart and was very much alive,” said a statement by the National Right to Life.
“We commend you for working to ensure that the technology that allows us to see and hear an unborn child’s heartbeat is used to benefit women by making them more fully informed.”
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I know that life begins at conception - well done Michele!
This is what I have said for the last 30+ yrs. Women need to be told tbe truth. Then they can make an informed dec.
Hey Michele - I thought you wanted smaller government, more jobs and spending cuts? (1) This is increased government, (2) It doesn’t create a single job and (3) who’s going to be paying for these forced ultrasounds?
Also, I’d like to point out, that 9 out of 10 abortions occur in the first 12 weeks, but tummy ultrasounds are only available after 10 weeks. If this law is passed, women who don’t want to be pregnant will be forced, by law, to have a vaginal ultrasound unless they stay pregnant more than 10 weeks. Allowing the government to force a woman to have a vaginal invasive procedure is obscene.
http://www.babycenter.ca/pregnancy/antenatalhealth/scans/firsttrimesterscans/
chyuh micheleeee!
Well done!
Michele rocks.
And naturally, pro-aborts will be outraged.
They are consistently against any measure that could reduce the number of abortions. Ultrasounds, parental consent for minors, spousal consent…
Their idea of “choice” is for a 13-year old to enter Planned Parenthood, be told false embryology information (such as “it is just a ball of cells” in a stage when the unborn child already has fingernails), and, when the fragile girl consents, the butchery gets done without her parents even knowing.
As long as the abortion gets done, they’re happy.
Well Done Michelle! She is the best! Would you put a price on your life?! Come on people, Smile! Your Mother Chose Life!
@Megan - have you heard the latest? Dismemberment is obscene. I like the word ‘obscene’, however. I’m going to start incorporating into my pro-life blog. Thanks for the help.
Megan, shouldn’t you be at the Wall Street Protests? Nobody is going to force women to have an exam. Where is that anywhere in the bill? Read the article carefully. IT SAYS WOMEN going to get an a-b-o-r-t-i-o-n. With that reasoning why should babies be forced ( your words) to be aborted. Why should God fearing Catholics be FORCED to pay for abortions. It seems that all the people for abortion have already been born. If you are not even Catholic why are you on our sites. A true Catholic would support any bill that would save at least one life, if my taxes raised to pay for ultra sounds, I could live with that.
“A pregnant woman who enters an abortion clinic is faced with a decision that will forever change two lives,” said Bachmann. “That’s why she must have the very best information with which to make that decision.”
How in the world is being forced to hear a heart beat ensure that a woman has “the best information possible”? What is the point?
What happen to small government? That’s just for corporations right? So they can do whatever they want to their employees, pay them whatever they want and pollute or air, water and land with no consequence? But “small government” means it’s okay to interfere with my decisions about MY body? Who will pay for the ultra sounds? I say if the state pays for those, we add a clause that if the woman still chooses to have an abortion, the state pays for that as well! That should bring this chat to a boil. =)
Thank HER god that she doesn’t have one of HER prayers chances of getting on the ticket for 2012.
....brought to you by the CCC (Cu Clux Christians) who object to more government regulations in your life!
Megan, you’re flat out wrong. Just plain, flat out wrong. Ultrasounds (and not transvaginal ones) can be done as early as six weeks and detect a baby. I speak from multiple experiences with this. A doppler can pick up a hearttone as early as 7 weeks.
You’re right that most abortions are done before 12 weeks, 88% to be exact. However, 26.2% are 9-12 weeks. http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html
Thus enabling a woman to be able to see and hear her child’s heart beat. And you will never convince a woman that has actually heart her baby’s heartbeat at 7 weeks or 8 weeks that it’s not a living being. And this is what the abortion industry is so terrified about.
There is no increased government in this. This is merely MAKING a “medical” clinic give a woman FULL, proper, scientific information. It does not take extra time, nor money, nor effort on anyone’s part to turn the stupid screen towards a woman so she can see the picture and flipping a switch to listen to the heart tone. You make it sound as if hell has to freeze over in order for this simple act to happen. You’d want this same information if you where having a surgical procedure to remove your gallbladder. But for killing a child, you’d forego all forms of being properly informed? You’d rather remain blissfully ignorant and ignore the true fact that you’re murdering another human being. Good luck with that… I truly believe that once a woman is properly informed with the CORRECT information, she’ll choose life.
There is a great flaw in the logic of pro-life supporters. They are adding to the already dire predicament faced by overburdened state and privately funded child welfare systems. For every one unwanted child that gets adopted and goes to a good home, more than ten fall through the various cracks. These young lives they claim to value so highly fall prey to all manner of cruelties (look at the stats).
I ask you this: Do you have any recollection of your ‘life’ pre-birth? Though a foetus under the twelve week stage of development is on route to becoming the viable progeny of our species, it is not a conscious life form yet (that comes later). An early termination is not the great travesty it is painted as. It is more often a kindness to both the person/s faced with the unwanted pregnancy and the potential individual who will more likely than not be born into a world that is not able to nurture it with care and the emotional support needed by a human child.
Moreover, we as humans are overstraining this planet. There are too many of us here already. We have reached and exceeded the threshold of our environment (earth) and are multiplying too greatly to sustain equilibrium. We are making the rest of the plant’s life forms (both fauna and flora) pay for our over developed moral compass—a skewed compass at that.
Let’s not infringe the collective moral principles of one faction of our diverse society on individuals who are already facing a very difficult decision. Our emotions and beliefs compel us to do many great things, but they also drive us to do unspeakably cruel things to our fellow brothers and sisters in the name of values and ideals they may not share.
Megan,
Because a vacuum hose up your uterus isn’t at all invasive, right? Plus an ultrasound can be done as early as 5 weeks.
http://www.justmommies.com/articles/heartbeat-on-ultrasound.shtml
But the thing is, no one mentioned ultrasounds, vaginal or otherwise, at all. An ultrasound is not needed to hear the baby’s heartbeat. Doppler can pick it up at 8 to 10 weeks most of the time which fits in perfectly with your 10-12 weeks scenario.
Giving them ultrasounds and “informed consent” isn’t going to matter if they are not protected from the rapists who bring them to PP in the first place!
A 13-year-old girl who hears a heartbeat may be amazed by the life in her womb, but then she has to think about the monster who impregnated her and brought her there, and who will undoubtedly still be in the waiting room ready to take her back and torture her some more!
And how in the world are they going to enforce this law? Are there going to be police in every PP to determine whether a woman is being coerced, and save her and her baby? This should concern and appall every single one of us.
pro-life laws work. That is why they are so hated.
http://www.lifenews.com/2011/10/12/arizona-abortion-drop-30-after-pro-life-law-takes-effect/
It is bizarre that people think “small government” should mean “unregulated, no-rules abortion”.
When people like Michele defend “small government”, they want the government to do just what it is supposed to do, no more no less. And what is the government supposed to do? Secure the borders and ensure security are top priorities.
Regulating abortion, which ends a human life, is therefore among the top priorities of any government, no matter how small.
@Chris
> “They are adding to the already dire predicament faced by overburdened state and privately funded child welfare systems. For every one unwanted child that gets adopted and goes to a good home, more than ten fall through the various cracks. These young lives they claim to value so highly fall prey to all manner of cruelties (look at the stats).”
What? You claim we should allow the babies to die because otherwise their lives will be bad? That is Nazism - the concept of “life unworthy of life” - “Lebensunwertes Leben”.
“I ask you this: Do you have any recollection of your ‘life’ pre-birth?”
No. So what.
I ask you this:
If Mary has just woke up from a coma, does she have and recollection from the coma period?
The answer is “no”, right? Therefore, by your logic, I should be allowed to dismember people in coma and throw their body parts away as biological trash - just like they do to preborn babies.
>” Moreover, we as humans are overstraining this planet. There are too many of us here already.”
Oh please. Thomas Malthus has already been proven wrong long ago.
In this bizarre world, veterinarians are more regulated than the abortion industry.
Michele Bachmann is trying to inject _some_ reason in this.
@Chris: I have no recollection of the first two or three years of my life. Does that mean I wasn’t alive?
Yes, Erin—all of these poor women running to PP are rape victims. *thud* And this law would be policed the same as any similar law. Do you see armed police officers waiting outside of college classrooms to make sure that FERPA isn’t violated? Or outside of medical offices to make sure that doctors use rubber gloves before poking their patients with anything? Are the police officers running breathalizers on each cab driver? Your objections are not well-reasoned.
TO “CHRIS ON THURSDAY”, If only you truly knew what you are advocating. If my information is correct, there was a time when people could be arrested for procuring/having abortions for at least two reasons;the murder of a blood relative and the murder of a fellow citizen, hence an act of treason. Any military vet who recalls being sworn in when they first enlisted should know what I am referring to.
You are looking at the BEFORE ABORTION arguments. Look also at the AFTER ABORTION facts. After 16 years of hearing the post side of an abortion, I am convinced abortion damages everyone it touches. Women and men deserve to hear the truth before they make a life changing decision, and an abortion changes you. Too much pain, regret, sadness, emptiness. Why are you afraid of information?
This act is the closest thing to a compromise there is without completeley banning abortion. Pro-choice supporters should be happy. The act is meant to inform a woman, not reject her the “choice” of an abortion.
To Chris:
“These young lives they claim to value so highly fall prey to all manner of cruelties (look at the stats).”
What stats? Out of 10 children saved from abortion, how many now say “I wish I were never born!”? I cannot find any official statistic on this. If you have, please share the source.
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