Thanks Governors Ted Strickland & Mike Rounds!
Ohio Governor Ted Strickland (D) and South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds signed into law bills that require abortion clinics to provide fetal ultrasound to those women contemplating abortion. I want to publicly thank them for that. Those states join eleven other states that require ultrasound before an abortion and that is literally turning the tide on the abortion debate in favor of life. There is a entity called Womb with a View that does ultrasound and their selection of that name says it all.The Ohio bill, was passed by their Senate on March 14 and before that their House passed it in December 07. It is named the Ultrasound Viewing Bill, HB 314.
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March 27, 2008 at 12:11 pm
I would guess that this will be challenged in court; for one, you have a law that’s gender based and frequently laws that affect only one gender are struck down; for two, it’s a law requiring a medical procedure, without a medical reason, that doesn’t affect public health.
Not that I’m a medical expert, but even laws about immunizations have opt-out clauses and they serve a public interest by preventing the spread of disease; here, it would be difficult to argue that requiring a woman to go through an ultrasound is in the public interest. In light of previously posted information indicating that abortions disproportionately affect minorities, while the law on its face is neutral, it’s a government action with a disproprotionate affect on minorities, which in itself is grounds for challenge.
Also, my understanding of abortion and ultrasound is that each has requirements about when they occur, which are opposite with ultrasounds not being performed before the end of the first trimester, which is after many abortions occur. This in iteself is another conflict because, based on what you say here, the law, intended to dissuade women from taking part in a legal medical procedure, on its face, is designed to a) have another procedure at a time it isn’t safe for the fetus in order to b) persuade the mother c) not to follow through with her intent to have a legal medical procedure. The potential here is to harm the fetus though the intent is to save it.
I don’t know the history of Ohio laws, but do know that a recent South Dakota law outlawing abortion was challenged and struck down. I would expect the same groups to challenge this law.
Expect analogies to Nazi medical experiments when reading about response to this law.
March 27, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Nan that is a very good point.
Truthfully, I expect most laws like this to get overturned… That is generally the trend.
And for all I know, the Guv’na expects the same… He has been in politics a fair deal.
I am appreciative that an Ohio Democrat would rise above the partison lines set at the national level and respect the more conservative values of the Ohio majority… If the legislation stuck, that would be amazing too.
Of course it is only as good as its enforcement… And Planned Barrenhood doesn’t have a real stellar record of obeying laws.