Image from http://www.sheknows.com/parenting/articles/807970/what-to-expect-from-the-week-ultrasound
It’s a terrible thing, deciding whether to have an abortion. Sometimes it’s about the mothers health, sometimes it’s a child never wanted, for intercourse never desired. Sometimes the child would never live to see a week. Now, the anti-choice armada has another gun on the ships. Guilt. Many states now require or offer an ultrasound of the unborn child before an abortion is performed, and several more are in the works.
State legislatures are considering a new wave of abortion restrictions this year. Some require longer waiting periods to get abortions. Others would direct doctors to show women ultrasounds of fetuses.
But critics say new conservative lawmakers are pushing these bills to test the limits.
If South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard signs a newly passed bill, women seeking abortions will now have to wait 72 hours after their initial visit to a clinic before having the procedure done in that state. The bill also requires counseling at a crisis pregnancy center.
“We already know that it’s an unborn child that’s being aborted, and a 72-hour wait time is certainly not too much to consider when you’re taking the life of an unborn child,” says Valerie Johnson, of South Dakota Right to Life.
Read more at; http://www.npr.org/2011/03/16/134425357/states-abortion-legislation-questioned-by-critics
typo*
You are Pro-Choice.
It is never an easy decision, you understand this, and are* willing to have others make the decision that is right for them. THIS is what being PRO-CHOICE is all about
Hi there.
I have to admit, I’m in a pretty unique position. See, I’m both pro-life and pro-choice. See, I can’t make the decision for each mother out there, and though I know that there are people out there waiting for an opportunity to adopt a child, I also understand that there are many, MANY circumstances regarding the decision about whether to keep a child or not. It isn’t a black and white thing.
That being said, I don’t see how an ultrasound procedure is meant as an “anti-choice guilt trip.” Honestly it isn’t. It could be that doctors want it done for various reasons. For example, if the mother is insistent upon an abortion, then it could be used to determine precisely how far into the pregnancy the mother is, and what procedures should be used to ensure the health of the mother is protected.
As well, for many doctors (I will not say all of them, because I know that isn’t the case) there are personal boundaries they are not willing to cross. For example, if a doctor will not perform an abortion into the 2nd trimester and a woman asks to get one done, the ultrasound will protect that doctor’s policy and he can refer her to a colleague who is more willing to do the abortion.
I have my own views on the whole situation, like I said before. I am both pro-life and pro-choice. Personally, an abortion is never an option. I’ve known a girl get one done at 24 weeks (When the infant was viable had she gone into premature labour) and be traumatized by it years later. I’ve also known some girls who felt it was the only decision they could make. AND I’ve known people who got it done due to various medical complications that could have killed the mother, up to and including recent brain surgery.
I would need to look at the full reasoning behind the proposal for a mandatory ultrasound before an abortion, but at this moment, I don’t see it as a bad thing.
It’s not just the ultrasound, it’s the doctor’s script at the sonogram and forcing you to look at the fetus whether you want to or not and a useless visit you pay for to talk to those same crazies picketing abortion clinics with all their great fetus pictures. And yes Texas’ law is forceable rape. And now to make matters worse they want to ban contraceptives by making a viable fetus as conception. Let’s see how married men like always having to use a condom for contraceptives. It’s the only one that won’t be considered an illegal abortion. Want a tubal litigation or vasectomy? Also illegal per Bachman. Also an aside of this is that those who hope to undergo invitro, illegal. If any don’t seat in the uterus you just killed a potential fetus. Santorum doubled down on Backman’s craziness by wanting to make it illegal to have sex unless it’s for procreation. Well ladies have your change of life early if you don’t like sex with your husband, cause if you can’t get pregnant, no sex.
“I have to admit, I’m in a pretty unique position. See, I’m BOTH pro-life and pro-choice. See, I can’t make the decision for each mother out there, and though I know that there are people out there waiting for an opportunity to adopt a child, I also understand that there are many, MANY circumstances regarding the decision about whether to keep a child or not. It isn’t a black and white thing.”
You are Pro-Choice.
You are understand and willing to have other people make the decision that is right for them. This is what PRO-CHOICE is all about
In Texas, it’s the Transvaginal Ultrasound, which is “internal” through the Vagina. A VERY intrusive procedure where a probe is actually INSERTED into the vagina; in the case of a rape victim another act of rape unto itself! This procedure is intrusive, painful and humiliating.
I am a political independent who campaigned as a city leader for Obama in ’08, and am deeply concerned about the radical elements that have taken over the Republican leadership which are clearly leading down the path towards Fascism. I am also an Orthodox Christian who believes that all life is sacred, and that God’s irrevocable gift to mankind is free will. He made us His sons and daughters, not slaves. He loves us and has sought continually over the generations to tell us so — first through many prophets, and when we still didn’t get it, He came Himself in love, with respect for the Virgin Mary, seeking her consent which was given, to teach us the way to be, to demonstrate his mercy, to give His love in the most ultimate way. Forcing is not His way; His way is through the heart, through love. And He wishes us to be like him.
Democrats would be wise to elevate to leadership those within their ranks who are pro-life, to rise up and embrace this serious issue which the Republicans have taken over and exploited for their gain–and do the truly right thing. The right thing, spiritually, is to take the position of love — love for the unwilling mother, love for the unborn child, love for the family and community. We need a policy that says, we respect free will and will not force a woman to carry a pregnancy to term; at the same time, we support the woman with all available resources should she make the choice for life, including health care during pregnancy and assistance after the birth; we retain the legal and safe availability of abortion–recognizing that a just and loving society views abortion as a last resort.
The Democratic party would be wise to shift the paradigm to one informed by the heart, by love and compassion for all current and future generations. We should challenge conservatives to financially support young unmarried mothers, in paying for their health care during pregnancy and after birth, as the morally right thing to do. The Democratic party would be wise to take the moral lead in speaking to the hearts of the many, many conservatives in this nation, who care deeply about this issue. There is a path of reconciliation; it truly is possible to be both pro-life and pro-choice. Let us elimination the division over this issue. Keep it safe and legal. And make it rare.
In light of this my position, I have no problem with waiting periods and ultrasounds; also included should be financial counseling, family counseling, spiritual counseling and a public system of health care to support the choice for life. If after all that someone chooses abortion, they should be able to do so safely, privately, and legally.
Your argument still sounds like a rehash of conservative BS. If you truly did campaign for Barrack Obama, I thank you for doing that. However, you state that you believe in free will, but you would have that influenced by outside forces.
Getting an ultrasound before an abortion has nothing to do with the health of the mother. It has nothing to do with whether the mother can afford to keep the child. It has nothing to do with how it will destroy the mothers livelihood. It has nothing to do with keeping an unloved child from an unwanted encounter with a willful stranger with no respect for the mother, or no sense of duty to return to care for the child. It has EVERYTHING to do with forcing a woman into feeling guilty for knowing what effect this child coming into the world is going to do to her. It won’t do anything but scar the women that go through with an abortion, and cause those who chose not to suffer the effects of a dangerous pregnancy, or the misery of being reminded of a terrible experience in their life every time they see their child.
These are not hypothetical situations, they happen all the time, women die from complications, they hate their child because of who the father was and what he did to the mother, a woman with potential to make something of herself puts education on the shelf to raise a child she never wanted, and never deserved to have to carry.
There’s nothing from the heart about this. There is nothing loving about the pro life argument. I think it is incumbent on all of us to remember that the alternative point of view is not pro-life, it is pro choice. This isn’t a case of people going to get pregnant just so they can walk into the abortion clinic grinning about that little fetus their about to destroy. This is about a person who made a mistake, or was attacked, or could be killed by trying to let the child be born.
Not to mention your argument that spiritual counselling should be part of the pre-abortion proceedings. What you a proposing assumes that all women who want an abortion share your religious beliefs, and that sounds dangerously close to the establishment of a theocracy. Not everyone is Christian, not everyone has a religion at all. Many of us hold life sacred without your Jesus telling us what to think. You should keep that in the back of your mind whenever you make these points. Just because someone claims to be Christian doesn’t make them a good person, and conversely, not all good people are Christian.
Then, let us not forget Jesus Sermon on the Mount. If you are an Orthodox Christian, your duty is to follow the teachings of Christ.
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17)
Yet you would seek to undo the laws that have been written unto this land, when clearly, Jesus intent was that the faithful shall follow the law as it stands, and that no law shall be unwritten in his name, but this is clearly your intent, to put the word of god into law, in direct violation of the teachings of your savior. Orthodox Christian indeed.
Now, to the last sentence of this hollow argument. Privately, to be exact. PRIVATELY. Let’s look it up. Hang on while I grab the dictionary. Here we are.
Private: undertaken individually or personally.
Since this is not a definition that is open to much interpretation, we should be able to agree fairly well, this implies on one’s own, without outside influence, counseling, or guilt tripping. Yet everything you say leading up to this would infer you mean for just the opposite to be the case.
You sicken me, theocratic hypocrite, false tongued usurper of divine word, spreader of hate in the guise of compassion. You may not be out calling for the deaths of abortion doctors, picketing those unfortunate enough to require their services, calling them evil, wretched, or whore, but a wolf in sheep’s clothing is just as much a wolf. Come back when you have a real argument based on fact, and human compassion, not the perverted interpretation of a 2000 years dead prophet.
Nicely said!!!
From personal experience I know that an ultrasound is necessary to perform an abortion. My doctor here in Michigan performed a quick ultrasound immediately before the procedure. The doctor has to know where the embryo is in the uterus to rule out ectopic pregnancies, size, and uterus shape to avoid complications. BUT the technician/doctor performing the ultrasound DOES NOT show the screen to the patient before an abortion.
Showing it to the woman would be nothing less than a guilt trip.
My abortion experience was not traumatic. I was treated kindly, and with respect. Every woman deserves that.