The Virginia Senate passed legislation on Feb. 1 requiring a woman seeking an abortion to first obtain an ultrasound image of her unborn child.
Bill sponsor Republican Sen. Jill Vogel said the legislation will help keep women informed about their health and will bring current laws “in line with current reproductive technology.”
“It is critical that a woman have the opportunity to have the ultrasound because the ultrasound can lead to information that would save your life or, at a minimum, have an impact on the outcome of the procedure,” she told the Northern Virginia Daily.
The legislation passed by a 21-18 vote, with two Democrats voting in favor and one Republican voting against. It now heads to the House of Delegates, where Republicans hold two-thirds of the seats.
The bill requires medical professionals who perform the ultrasounds to get a written certification from a pregnant woman that she was offered the opportunity to view the ultrasound image and whether or not the woman chose to see the image or hear the fetal heartbeat.
The facility where the abortion is performed must maintain a copy of the ultrasound and must have written certification in the patient’s medical records.
Vogel added that the measure will also notify abortionists as to how far along a pregnancy is. She gave the example of a doctor who lost his license after performing an abortion on a woman whom he thought to be 12 weeks pregnant but in fact was 26 weeks into pregnancy.
Although groups such as the Virginia Catholic Conference are supporting the initiative, opponents like local Democratic Sen. Janet Howell say the bill puts government regulation “between a woman and her doctor,” The Washington Post reported.
Victoria Cobb, however, who serves as president of the pro-life Family Foundation, said her organization is “pleased to see we’re getting a fair hearing” and happy to see more sympathetic members of the Senate.
In previous years, similar proposals passed in the House but died in the Senate, where Democrats and some Republicans had stacked committees to ensure the bills never reached the floor.
A spokesman for Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said the governor supports the bill.
The proposed legislation also requires a waiting period of 24 hours for women who live within 100 miles of their abortionist, except in emergencies. Those who live more than 100 miles away would have to wait for two hours.
Edward Pentin: Images of Rome's 2013 March for Life
Comments
Post a Comment
I see this tactic, and its a good one.
The Church wants women to FEEL THE REAL BABY before killing it.
I don’t support Abortion, it is wrong immoral and sinful and a great offense against God and merits automatic excommunication in the church.
This is a wonderful solution for women to realize that they should not murder their babies.
So lets present a hypothetical situation. A 14 year old girl who has been the victim of forced incest becomes pregnant and wants to terminate the pregnancy. She is by traditional means determined to be 8 weeks pregnant. A traditional Abdominal Ultra sound is not going to be sensitive enough to determine anything especially, the gestational age of the fetus. So in order to satisfy this law, a transvaginal ultrasound must be performed. Calling this process invasive would be an understatement.
So now we are going to force an already traumatized young woman to endure the most invasive procedure that can be associated with this issue, as well as tell her that she has to think about it for an additional 24 hours before she will be eligible for a LEGAL procedure to be performed.
Nice job looking out for the health and welfare of actual living people Virginia. I can’t wait for the big reveal of WHO is going to follow up on the mandatory notation regarding whether or not the patient viewed the image or listened to the heartbeat. At least then we can associate a face with BIG BROTHER.
Whoop whoop! Yay, Virginia!
It is not the same as suggesting that women are stupid merely to say that they may not be aware that they have a right to this information. I can think of several circumstances where this might be the case. Neither is it the same as suggesting that all providers are in it for money to ask why we ought to leave women at the mercy of someone who may have been seduced by financial gain.
Graham, I too hate abortion. Seriously, the fact that it is the law of the land haunts me.
However, I can also tell you that women who make that choice rarely do it because they feel that it’s one of many options. They mostly feel that there is no other choice. Much like the animal caught in the trap that would chew off its own leg to escape. I work in a pregnancy center, and I see this all the time.
I cry bitterly for every woman who comes through our door who has chosen or is choosing abortion. She has been brought up in a culture with a “Tylenol for a headache” attitude toward unplanned pregnancy. Pregnant? Have an abortion. It will all go away. She has no idea that what she is about to do will only bring her worse problems, not the least of which is feeling that she can never reveal this secret to anyone. Not even a confessor—because she fears that no one, not even Jesus Christ, could forgive her. That is if she hasn’t buried it beneath heaps of denial.
The fact is that many women will still choose abortion even after having the ultrasound. It is intended to let the woman and her doctor know how far along she is to determine how to proceed. Some may see the image and choose life. But the most useful outcome of an ultrasound for an abortion-minded woman is to determine what kind of abortion she can have (pill or surgical) depending on the gestational age. And if she is not required to see the image or hear the heartbeat (as this law indicates), the denial will continue.
I pray that it changes the hearts and minds of many. However, until our culture changes from the sex-saturated, hyper-feminist, instant gratification culture that it is, the battle will continue to be a fierce one. Women who choose abortion are as much a victim as the baby. She has been sold a pack of lies her whole life. And every woman has her own story that has led her to this point. The people who should really be excommunicated are the politicians who claim to be Catholic, but support Planned Parenthood and the upholdong of Roe Vs Wade through their actions—and for that matter, those who knowingly still vote for them.
Even the most hard-hearted pro-abortionists should celebrate this bill. Since many abortions are coerced - forced or encouraged by boyfriends, husbands, even parents - this step gives better assurance that the pregnant woman or girl knows what she is doing before undergoing a procedure that is irreversible. Since most pro-abortionists are liberals, they should join us in resisting coercion, (if they are consistent in their views, which often include opposition to capital punishment, another life-ending act).
To ‘Woman’ above - you present a heart-wrenching dilemma, (14 year old impregnated incest victim) to justify a gruesome, but legal, act, abortion. You certainly know that 99.99% of abortions are not done to teen incest victims. This is the type of (novelist Jodi Picoult-type) feminist dilemma that paralyzes real ‘Women with Brains’.
To abort a rape or incest victim just adds violence to violence, further harming the victim. The conceived human person is still a child of God, regardless of the facts of its conception.
Go Virginia!
Thank you, Virginia for a real health care measure for women. We should also remember that there are two different types of ultrasounds. The invasive method certainly is not needed to show the mom her baby.
Thank you Woman with a brain for standing up for what is right. Unfortunately, what none of these anti-abortionist “people” will fail to admit, is that the church isn’t pro life, it’s just pro birth. Quo Vadis happily side-steps the very valid issues you raise by stomping all over any victim of a sexual crime resulting in an unwanted pregnancy by spewing propaganda about “further harming the victim.” Quo probably also doesn’t care that an emergency abortion saved my mother’s life. I would also like to hear where Quo gets his statistics from. I can cite an article “Reasons U.S. Women Have Abortions: Quantitative and Qualitative Perspective” which reveals that 0.5% of women report getting an abortion due to incest (a bit higher than the 0.01% that Quo would have us believe). 1% reported having an abortion due to rape. 12% report having an abortion because of health problems that would prevent them from safely carrying a baby to term. Quo, if you want to spew made-up numbers to support your argument, be my guest. Just don’t try to pass fiction as fact - that’s what the bible is for.
athenian, the reason we don’t “admit to” it is because that’s patently untrue.
athenian, I will not try here to debunk your outrageous claims about the ubiquitousness of rape and incest. Any figures for the incidence of these crimes are unsubstantiated and therefore suspect, but even if we take your (liberal) figure that 13.5% of all abortions are due to rape+incest+‘health problems’, then that means that 162,000 out of 1.2 million abortions a year are attributed as those ‘hard cases’, leaving 1,038,000. abortions PER YEAR ! as ‘elective’. Elective abortion means that the mother finds it inconvenient or embarrassing to gestate and deliver the child she has conceived. This is a human tragedy that has played out for long enough in our society.
Abortion is a backstop to much unhealthy and harmful behavior for women and girls, including the ‘hookup’ culture. It will not stand - I am sorry that you do not see the horror of this gruesome procedure. As I write on a Catholic site, I say that I will pray for your conversion on this issue. If you are not a believer, how sad.
Quo - they aren’t my claims - these are numbers retrieved from a research paper. Similar numbers for the US can be found in medical and psychology journals. I understand what elective means. The fact that you think women shouldn’t have control over their own bodies disgusts me. The fact that you link abortion to ‘hookup culture’ shows how limited your world view truly is. Enjoy your little barbaric existence - mine is a comfortable one in a modern world.
athenian - I know the world fully, and grew up in the decadent 70’s and indugent and affluent 80’s. I, thankfully, eluded abortion directly, but know many, many women and men who had, or were party to, abortion. Each case is tragic, and most of the pregnancies occurred while drunk or otherwise impaired, in college. We have a real societal problem there, and I am not living a ‘barbaric existence’. It is so sad that you equate ‘control’ with ‘extermination’, but that is the way of our deluded popular, morally relativist culture today.
Those of us here, on an authentic Catholic web blog, will not accept the flawed and nihilist notion that abortion is ‘healthcare’ - sorry.
Then tell me Quo - will you and the other Catholics here be lining up at hospitals, waiting eagerly to adopt each and every unwanted child? On top of that, will you also be paying for the mother’s hospital bills and covering her lost wages while she gives birth and recovers? If your answer to all of the above is anything but a resounding ‘YES’ then you’ve proven my point - the Catholic church isn’t pro life, it’s just pro birth.
Yes, athenian, generous Catholics and others WILL adopt unwanted children, and donate to, and volunteer in, crisis pregnancy centers to support all women who come in, without regard to ability to pay, etc. (CPC’s are totally free for clients, and give and loan out clothing, food, furnishings, and lots of love and prayers, to boot!)
As far as carrying all costs for maternity, lost wages, etc. - now you are being very silly, indeed. If you want total government control of every aspect of life, cradle to grave, you are not talking about America, but some Scandanavian-style socialism that only works in a homogenous culture wherein there is some modicum of shared values and ethics, (which is certainly not the U.S.)
Quo Vadis, you have absolutely no problem with a government ordered INTERNAL VAGINAL probe, but you say, “If you want total government control of every aspect of life, cradle to grave, you are not talking about America, but some Scandanavian-style socialism…”.
Forcing a woman to have an invasive internal procedure is not the role of the government as far as I can see. Can we pass a law that any man who wants to vote needs to have a prostate exam? It will certainly save lives and is vital to the health of men in this country. What, you don’t see the government mandating an internal probe for men as laudable?
Before the government can tell me to accept internal vaginal probes, I will go to jail… where at least the rapists forcing me are not masquerading as righteous prolifers.
@Quo - I am not being silly - I am proving a point. The pro life discourse enjoys a narrative based in fantasy, which belittles women who would be so selfish to not carry a child to term with no realistic acknowledgement of the health risks and financial burdens she would be expected to face. I am glad you found my suggestion to be farcical because it is meant to prove a point. In the US, a hospital birth can cost a woman anywhere from $15,000 to $25,000. In addition to that, if she does not have health coverage or any sort of paid leave from work, she will have to endure those financial losses, in addition to her hospital debt, to carry a child to term so that YOU can sleep better at night. If her job is a physical one, she may have to go even longer without pay since her recovery would keep her from rejoining the work force longer than if she had a non-physical job. It’s funny that you would equate the claim to have this covered as “control” - I believe preventing women from being able to receive abortions is a very dangerous form of control…
Concerned Grandmother - You misunderstood my post - a CPC is a ‘crisis pregnancy center’, not a vaginal probe!!!! Please reread - I am not suggesting forced internal exams.
athenian - I am so sorry you attach nothing but cost and danger and inconvenience to pregnancy and childbirth. Women and their families have lovingly accepted children into their lives for eons, not viewing them as dangerous, malevolent burdens. What is wrong with this picture?
Children are a gift from God, and our natural fertility should be protected in chastity, understood and honored, and offered in love with our spouses as an echo of God’s Creation here on earth. As Catholics, this is grace, the best use of our creation as gendered beings. As a previous post described, natural family planning (NFP) is a dignified and effective way to ‘control’ birth and ‘plan’ families, to a point. For the masses who desire random and risky sexual encounters, there are the ubiquitous condoms, which our public schools teach children to use in eighth grade health classes, with bananas as props!
Please reconsider the empty, degraded and selfish view of sexuality that is rampant in today’s culture. It leads to a dead end of disease, dissolution and death. I will pray for spiritual transformation in our midst, starting with yours. This is an orthodox Catholic site, after all, not NPR or MSNBC.
Peace.
@Quo - Do not presume to label me as a “foetus hating feminist” just because I value human rights. I am pregnant right now and love the daughter I already have. However, I also value the fact that I live in a country where a woman has rights over her body and reproductive organs and that they are not the property of the state. Abortion saved my mother’s life - my brother, sister, and I are all grateful for that! And if a woman wants or needs to abort her child I believe that is her right. The fact that you do not understand that is scary to me, but I can at least appreciate the fact that you are expressing your beliefs and that you feel your stance is morally correct.
Post a Comment
By submitting this form, you give The National Catholic Register permission to publish this comment. Comments will be published at our discretion, and may be edited for clarity and length. For best formatting, please limit your response to one paragraph and don't hit "enter" to force line breaks.