Patients' Rights: Ultra Sounds and Abortion.

Austin, TX (LifeNews.com) -- A Texas state Senate panel has signed off on a bill that would require abortion practitioners to do ultrasounds on women considering abortions and to give them an opportunity to see it beforehand. Republican Sen. Dan Patrick, a Republican who is sponsoring the bill, hopes it will help persuade women to keep their babies.

Under Patrick's bill, women would not be required to see the ultrasound but they must be allowed the chance to do so and can sign a form stating they were given the opportunity.

Read more.

The pro-abortion people are going to be all over this one.

I have never been able to understand why people who call themselves "pro-choice" have a problem with those choices being informed. They are often people who call themselves feminists. They advocate education for women. They advocate that women be informed on just about anything and everything they want to know. They advocate quality health care for women.

Part of quality health care is good communication with your physician. This is not merely a courtesy. It is a right of the patient.

Before undergoing any kind of medical treatment a patient has a right to know what her situation is, and exactly how the treatment will affect it. Information helps the patient understand what is going on, and to make decisions, and the final decision ultimately rests with the patient.

And the patient has the right to refuse treatment, even if the doctor or some group of political activists thinks it is not the best decision for her quality of life. This is the case for everything from menstrual cramps to Alzheimer's.

Now, the pro-choicers call information about fetal development and ultra sound images forms of intimidation. Though to be honest, ultrasound images are so murky anyway, I can't see how they would be intimidating at all early on. See the six-week ultrasound at the left, and then compare it to an actual photograph of a fetus around the same age. I can see how a 12 week ultra sound (also at left, below) would scare the pro-choicers though. Even a blurry picture looks like a baby at that point. To see why, see the photographs here. This could be worth knowing, if the woman would prefer not to abort past a certain stage of development. If she doesn't care, the ultra sound is not going to change her mind.

But, apparently those who claim to defend women think that information about what is already happening to their bodies is a danger to them. It's already a difficult situation, they say, and showing a woman images of her fetus will just make the decision harder.

Wait, I thought women were strong and capable of making difficult decisions?

Here are a few things for all of you to chew on:

Women are not hysterical flighty creatures. We can handle information. We have brains. We have consciences. Both of those deserve to be informed, even if it makes us temporarily uncomfortable, and especially when a life-altering decision is involved. That is our right as human beings. (Remember that thing about having control over our bodies?)

There are women who know about fetal development, and some who even recognize the humanity of an unborn child, and who still have abortions anyway. There are also women who know fully the risks of pregnancy to their health, and the changes that will happen in their lives when they find themselves raising a child--and they choose to have the baby anyway, even after they have been warned that they could be uncomfortable, traumatized, stigmatized, impoverished, etc.

But there are also lots of women who were not given proper information, even when they asked for it. Who wanted to see their ultra sounds and were refused. Who were told by husbands, boyfriends and parents that abortion was the only solution. Who were told that their fetus was only a lump of cells, when it was actually old enough to have limbs! Women who have been told that they needed an abortion for their health, who then found out they could have avoided it through other medical treatments.

And when they found out the truth they were angry.

So I must ask, which would the pro-choicers prefer? Fully informed decisions without regrets?

Or angry women saying "I wouldn't have done this if I had known..." and then joining the pro-life movement to fight the people who lied to them?

Just wondering.

H/T: Tito

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Related: Something else that really infuriates the pro-abortion folks.
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Update: Similar legislation in Florida.
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