Proponents say the law is necessary to make sure women understand what an abortion entails. Opponents say it would interfere in the doctor-patient relationshipSend your comments to the Huffington Post (link below) or click on the "comments" at the bottom of the story. Please keep 'em clean.
Houston Chronicle, May 6, 2011: Mandatory ultrasound bill giant step back for women
The Weekly Standard: House passes 'no taxpayer funding for abortion act'
Reprinted from the Huffington Post
AP/The Huffington Post
First Posted: 05/6/11 12:40 PM ET Updated: 05/6/11 11:10 PM ET
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas lawmakers have passed legislation (Thursday May 5) requiring doctors to perform a sonogram before conducting an abortion.
The legislation requires doctors to conduct a sonogram at least 24 hours before an abortion and to provide the woman with the opportunity to see the results and hear the fetal heartbeat. The doctor is also required to describe what the sonogram shows.
In cases of incest, rape or fetal abnormality, the woman doesn't have to hear a description of the fetus.
AP/Huffington Post
Texas Governor Rick Perry, a Republican, stands behind the controversial measure. While different versions of the proposal were under debate earlier this year, Perry regarded the legislation as an emergency priority."Ensuring Texans have access to all the information when making such an important decision is a critical step in our efforts to protect life, and I look forward to this legislation reaching my desk very soon," said Perry in a statement earlier this week, lauding the state legislature for advancing the measure.
Proponents say the law is necessary to make sure women understand what an abortion entails. Opponents say it would interfere in the doctor-patient relationship.
“I think it’s very demeaning to women and I think we have more important things to do like balance the budget without hurting families and make sure we can fully fund education and healthcare and take care of things that are important to our economy and not political partisan issues such as a sonogram bill I thought it was a very intrusive example of big government,” said State Rep. Carol Alvarado, according to My Fox Houston.
10 comments:
This Sonogram Abortion Bill just goes to show how sleazy and hypocritical the incumbent Texas Republican politicians are - inlcuding the local Jason Isaac.
These misogynist politicians harp about big government intrusion in our lives but then they go ahead and impose mostly white male women-abusing, individually-fascist laws on us all.
This sonogram law does not just abuse women's and doctor's rights, it also abuses the rights of both men and women as they plan their families as THEY see fit, not as determined by some misguided Christian phonies like these Republican megalomaniacs.
The truth that these socially-repressive, anti-individual rights politicians clearly miss is that NO ONE thinks abortion is a desired choice. It is almost always a last resort - and women and couples do not need these Republican asses to insult them by forcing women and couples to undergo an invasive procedure like these abortion sonograms.
The male (and female) women-hating politicians who voted for this bill are ignorant hypocrites - and should be ashamed to call themselves representatives of the people. They only represent their narrow-minded, hate filled interpretation of what they think God would like.
The Bible promotes an individual's freedom to live with their own moral choices, and it it not the role of these self-righteous politicians to make those moral decisions for others. It is the role of clergy, families, medical professionals, and community support to help people make the right choices. This bill is true medical fascism, and the work of political heretics.
Jason Isaac, one of the co-authors of this truly fascist bill, is a dangerous man to be our local representative. He knows no humility and cannot trust people to think for themselves. I feel sorry for him.
(mostly stolen from the Houston Chronicle article link in the introduction)
Six in 10 women who have abortions are mothers, and their primary reason for having an abortion is to better care for the children they already have.
This mandatory sonogram law represents oppressive government regulation of women's most private decisions that should send a chill up the spine, and a shudder through the uterus, of every Texas woman (and their husbands) in Texas.
The bill is objectionable on many counts: It intrudes upon the doctor-patient relationship, it treats women like feeble-minded children who do not know their own minds or the consequences of their actions, and the 24-hour requirement between the ultrasound and abortion (with an exception for women who live more than 100 miles from the nearest licensed abortion provider) will result in multiple trips to a clinic, thereby increasing both expense and missed work time.
What is especially galling about the bill's passage is that the male (mostly white) sponsors of the legislation stupidly states that the new law "empowers" women, even while almost all sane, self-respecting women feeling quite the contrary.
Most hypocritical, those who support this bill have the arrogance to actually use the language of female empowerment - language stolen from the women's movement - that values female autonomy and choice. These repressive right wing big government fools twist the language around to fit this repressive law - a law that subverts female autonomy and choice.
The dictionary definition of "mandatory" is "authoritatively ordered, obligatory, compulsory." The term "mandatory empowerment" is an oxymoron.
"Mandatory Empowerment" has the same rationalized meaning in the Taliban culture in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Hello American Taliban in Texas.
In other words, the big government politicians who voted for this bill are people with a sick mindset that they are God's messengers. And all you good Texas Christians who say nothing and stand around and allow this to happen are pathetic as well.
"In cases of incest, rape or fetal abnormality, the woman doesn't have to hear a description of the fetus."
This part of the law just goes to show how politically pathetic the politicians who voted for this bill are.
I think the Bill should have included and clearly stated:
"All newborn babies unwanted by the victim mother 'in cases of incest, rape or fetal abnormality' must be adopted by any politician in the Texas Legislature who voted for this mandatory abortion bill from both chambers. This should include Rich Perry if he signs the bill.
I can guarantee you this bill would not have been passed if these Republican hypoctites would have been forced to bring these babies into their perfect mostly white elite homes.
I firmly believe that none of this about hating women as some have said. It is simply the same old religious bigotry that has been with us since the founding of our country. There will always be those that think it is their right and duty to tell others how to conduct their lives. Those people need to mind their own business.
Personally, I think abortion is the ending of a life, maybe only a potential life, but it is the person that agrees to it that has to answer up for it. I am vehemently opposed to the government getting involved in, or creating laws relating to abortion. Anyone that gets involved in counseling or advising these women at such a difficult time should share responsibility for the outcome.
The intent of mandatory sonograms may not be women hating, but the end result certainly is.
Any law or mandatory action that forces a person to do something - that is not breaking a law - against their will is abuse and hateful.
The mandatory sonogram law implies that women need to be forced into an action because the woman or family is inferior and incapable of making correct decisions on their own. That is a form of degradation and hate.
Abortion should be a last resort, but the law of the land allows its use - hopefully with much forethought and contemplation.
The politicians who voted for this law are insecure dinosaurs in a world moving away from their right wing self-righteous megalomania.
It is a feeble attempt at an insecure power grab over women that makes these men feel superior - when in fact they both weak and predatory.
Rocky said...
Any law or mandatory action that forces a person to do something - that is not breaking a law - against their will is abuse and hateful.
The mandatory sonogram law implies that women need to be forced into an action because the woman or family is inferior and incapable of making correct decisions on their own. That is a form of degradation and hate.
All laws either force persons to do something they might not do or prohibits them from doing something they might do. This law is no different in that regard. I do not think our lawmakers are sexist for the most part, just way too religious for our own good. Texas has always been a semi-theocracy due to huge population of born-again christians (small 'c' intended. Avery backward state full of men and women that think our laws should conform to the Bible, or more properly their interpretation of the book.
Historically speaking, the pilgrims didn't flee England for religious freedom, actually they came here and started a Theocracy here much like the Muslims would do today. Freedom from religious persecution still waits, in the USA.
It the sonogram is required during the first trimester, it may very well violate Roe v. Wade which prohibits states from passing laws affecting abortions in the first trimester.
Thank you GOP, the party of small government.
I am personally against abortion for any reason including rape or incest.
But that being said I am for a woman's right to choose. I have seen women rendered sterile when only teenagers because of back street butchers. That is a high price to pay for one mistake.
This bill crosses the line. It assumes that women are a weak group that need the intellect of "intelligent" lawmakers to tell them how to take care of their health needs.
The doctor patient relationship is a sacred part of medical care and belongs out of the legislative arena. Whether or not to have an abortion is a decision that a woman needs to make along with the input of her doctor and any one else she feels she needs to help her decide what to do. This does not include the state.
If seeing the sonogram will help her to decide then she should be able to see and hear it "if she wishes" not as ordered by the state.
This bill is a bad bill because it is trying to coerce the woman into making a decision through intimidation not education.
Patricia M. is a life-cherishing woman who respects freedom of choice over big government abuse of power and gender intimidation.
Thank you, Patricia M., for your thoughtful and concise analysis of what this abortion bill really means. You said it a lot better than I did with fewer words and more poise.
I guess I no longer have any patience for ignorant opportunistic politicians.
Wyoming, the most Republican State Legislature in the US, led by two female Republican state representatives, voted down this same type of mandatory sonogram legislation - on the grounds that people would not want to move to their state if they sent the message that one's deepest individual freedoms were not respected (even in the no-win nasty business of abortions).
What does that tell us about Texas - and the people of this state who do not stand up to these Austin bullies?
Austin bullies?!? Rocky, the bullies may work in Austin, but they are not from Austin.
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