Every day I read the news and think that this war on American women's rights can't get any worse and every day I'm proven wrong as another state signs on to this insanity.



According to the Guttmacher Institute, in their report entitled, "State Policies in Brief: Requirements for Ultrasound":



11 states require verbal counseling or written materials to include information on accessing

ultrasound services;

20 states regulate the provision of ultrasound by abortion providers;

7 states mandate that an abortion provider perform an ultrasound on each woman seeking an

abortion and require the provider to offer the woman the opportunity to view the image;

9 states require that a woman be provided with the opportunity to view an ultrasound image if her

provider performs the procedure as part of the preparation for an abortion;

5 states require that a woman be provided with the opportunity to view an ultrasound image.



Being in the legal field, I am quite confident that there are numerous lawsuits being filed against the states that have implemented these harsh constrictions. I also seriously wonder if the legislators who have introduced, voted on, and enacted these laws are even remotely aware of the fact that they are violating the Constitution via a woman's Ninth Amendment Right, the unenumerated right to privacy, and Fourteenth Amendment Right to due process as determined in Roe v. Wade 39 years ago. More importantly, do they even care?



On January 22, 1973, in the matter of Roe v. Wade, the United States Supreme Court ruled in a 7-2 majority that:



"3. State criminal abortion laws, like those involved here, that except from criminality only a life-

saving procedure on the mother's behalf without regard to the stage of her pregnancy and other

interests involved violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which protects

against state action the right to privacy, including a woman's qualified right to terminate her

pregnancy."



Subsequently, legal argument has further been made that the right to an abortion also has basis in the Fourth Amendment Right to privacy a woman has over her own body and Thirteenth Amendment Right regarding slavery or involuntary servitude.



It concerns me greatly that women do not understand that the right to choice not only involves abortion but their right to decide what to do with their own body. By surrendering that right, women are actually awarding control of their bodies to the government. Does any woman think this is a good idea? If you allow the government to tell you when you can't have an abortion, commensurately, you are also giving them the authority to tell you when you HAVE to have one. That is a whole lot more than state-mandated rape by an involuntary transvaginal ultrasound probe. So anti-choice ladies, be careful what you ask for, you just might get it, much to the detriment and dismay of our whole gender.



Sources: Guttmacher Institute: State Policies in Brief: Requirements for Ultrasound

Roe v. Wade, (1973) 410 U.S. 113

About.com: Civil Liberties: Why is Abortion Legal in the United States by Tom Head

