The War on Women, 2013 edition is in full swing.



Tennessee Senator Jim Tracy introduced an ultrasound bill yesterday. This, in and of itself, is not particularly newsworthy since ultrasound bills have become all the rage in the last couple years. What is newsworthy is just how far Forced Birthers will go to ensure that women who choose to have an abortion are traumatized by the experience.

If women don’t want to view the ultrasound, the new Tennessee bill, SB 632, will require abortion providers to explain the results of the ultrasound in grave detail.

Via Robin Marty at RH Reality Check:

According to SB 0632, sponsored by State Senator Jim Tracy, women about to undergo an abortion will be forced to undergo an abdominal ultrasound and to look at the image. If she doesn’t, well, then the provider will just explain what she’s not looking at millimeter by millimeter, with tiny embryonic heart tones and all. (A) Verbally offer the woman undergoing the fetal transabdominal

ultrasound an opportunity to view the ultrasound image and receive a printed copy of the ultrasound image; or

(B) In cases where the woman declines the offer to view the ultrasound image pursuant to subdivision (b)(3)(A), provide, in a manner understandable to a layperson, a simultaneous verbal explanation of the

results of the live, real-time ultrasound images, including a medical description of the dimensions of the embryo or fetus, the presence of cardiac activity, and the presence of arms, legs, external members and

internal organs, and provide a copy of the ultrasound image to the woman; and

(4) Make audible the live, real-time heart auscultation, when present, for the pregnant woman to hear, in a quality consistent with current medical practice, and provide, in a manner understandable to a layperson, a simultaneous verbal explanation of the live, real-time heart auscultation. In other words, they aren’t going to force you to look at the image. It’s just that if you don’t, they will ensure that every last detail is described to the pregnant woman and that she is forced to listen to a heartbeat instead.

No word on whether women will be prohibited from plugging their ears to avoid being aurally traumatized. (After all, in connection with Pennsylvania’s failed ultrasound bill, Governor Corbett helpfully noted that women could just close their eyes to avoid viewing an ultrasound, because that’s the kind of guy he is.)

And just in case you think that these ultrasound bills aren’t a big deal, read Carolyn Jones’s story, which was published last year in the Texas Observer, and think again.

[via RH Reality Check]