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Idaho Senate Passes Ultrasound Legislation

Mar 21, 2012

The Idaho Senate State Affairs Committee

By Dave Andrusko

In spite of angry pro-abortion demonstrations, the Idaho Senate Monday overwhelmingly passed a measure requiring an ultrasound prior to an abortion. The vote on Senate Bill 1387 was 23-12. The measure now goes to the Idaho House.

The measure builds on a 2007 informed consent law which required abortion facilities that use ultrasound equipment to inform the pregnant mother she has the option of viewing the ultrasound and obtaining a picture of her unborn baby. This year’s bill requires that an ultrasound be performed.  

To expedite the proposal, the measure requires Idaho’s Department of Health and Welfare to make available a list of places where women contemplating an abortion could get a free ultrasound. (Under current Idaho law, the department already provides a list of other resources to pregnant women.) Six states already provide pregnant mothers with a list of places where they can obtain an ultrasound free of charge.

Proponents also pointed out that eight states require an ultrasound prior to an abortion. One study found that 99% of abortion clinics already use ultrasounds prior to the abortion.

Indeed, the National Abortion Federation recommends ultrasound use prior to an abortion.  An abortion clinic in Idaho has confirmed on its website that it performs ultrasounds prior to the performance of an abortion. (The cost is included in the price of the abortion.)

Part of the hysteria generated in Virginia against the Commonwealth’s new ultrasound law was the false claim that the bill required a trans-vaginal ultrasound. It didn’t, but that did nothing to tamp down pro-abortion assertions that it did.

Idaho’s law specifically says that it is up to the mother and the abortionist to decide which method of ultrasound is used: trans-vaginal or abdominal.

“This legislation protects the mother’s right to see her unborn child in real-time ultrasound,” says Mary Spaulding Balch, JD, director of NRL’s Department of State Legislation. “The decision to have an abortion is such a major one, having potential ramifications not only on the life of the unborn child, but also on the physical and psychological health of the mother, and it is only right and proper that the state guarantee the mother access to information before making this life-changing decision.”

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Categories: Ultrasound