'Intrusive' Texas Bill 'Humiliates' Women By Requiring Ultrasounds, Antiabortion Script, Editorial Says

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: MRI / PET / Ultrasound
Article Date: 05 Mar 2009 - 4:00 PDT

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Republican state leaders in Texas "are making sure that the culture wars continue to rage" through their support for an "intrusive bill mandating that pregnant women seeking an abortion be force-fed information designed to humiliate them," according to an Austin American-Statesman editorial. The bill (S.B. 182) is sponsored by Sen. Dan Patrick (R) and has the support of Gov. Rick Perry (R) and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst (R), all of whom "brag" that the bill "advances the right-to-life cause," the editorial says. The bill requires that ultrasounds are performed on women seeking abortions and that providers describe to women what the ultrasound shows. According to the editorial, the bill would not allow women to refuse the information although a woman could "avert her eyes." The editorial states, "What actually thrills the GOP leadership so much is the provision that antiabortion information be read to the woman before the procedure, that the ultrasound image be described in detail and that the heartbeat be audible." It continues that Texas laws on abortion already require providers to "misinform women that there is the possibility of an increased risk of breast cancer from an induced abortion," adding, "Extensive medical research has found no correlation." In addition, the National Cancer Institute reports that 100 of the world's leading experts who have studied the issue have "concluded that having an abortion or miscarriage does not increase a woman's subsequent risk of developing breast cancer." Likewise, the American Cancer Society states there is no "'cause-and-effect relationship between abortion and breast cancer.'"

According to the editorial, antiabortion-rights advocates back the bill because it "puts them right there in the clinic, shaking their collective fingers at a woman," adding, "It is an incredibly invasive requirement forced on women." According to the editorial, "Texas is notorious for its draconian approach to abortion -- and for its lack of concern for children after they are born." Meanwhile, on the same day that "Perry, Dewhurst and others crowed about a bill that attempts to shame pregnant women out of an abortion, another bill was filed that aims to prevent teen pregnancies." The Prevention Works Act, sponsored by Sen. Kirk Watson (D) and Rep. Mark Strama (D), aims to reduce unintended pregnancies by informing parents about what is being taught in sex education classes. It would require schools to notify parents in writing what is being taught to their children about sex education. "With one of the highest teen birth rates in the nation, Texas could save millions of dollars by preventing teen pregnancies," the editorial says, concluding, "That's also the best way to reduce the number of abortions. Education is more effective than humiliation" (Austin American-Statesman, 3/2).

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