For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.





If there was a clear takeaway from the 2010 elections, it was this: No government bureaucrat should ever come between you and your doctor—unless you’re a woman. Two identical bills in front of the Michigan state legislature would add more obstacles to women seeking abortions in the state; under the proposed legislation, doctors would be required to perform an ultrasound, ask the woman if she’d like to listen to the heartbeat, and—in a new twist—”offer to provide the patient with a physical picture of the ultrasound image of the fetus.” Reports the Michigan Messenger:

All of this is to be done at least two hours before the abortion procedure and women would be required to sign a statement acknowledging that these offers had been made… “We are all for maximum information being given to any woman seeking an abortion, or any other major operation, for that matter,” said James Muffett, president of Citizens for Traditional Values which supports the legislation. “It seems quite suspect that abortion providers do not already do this. Maybe they know that there really is a living baby in the womb and if the mother saw that, she might change her mind.”

As currently written there are no exemptions, which means that doctors would be required to offer a photograph of the ultrasound, even to women who have been the victims of rape or incest.

As we’ve previously reported, in recent months conservative lawmakers have unleashed a flood of anti-choice legislation—often with potentially radical consequences. In Nebraska, a law enforcement official testified that a proposed bill to legalize “justifiable homicide” in defense of the unborn could lead to violence. A similar bill in South Dakota would have permitted the use of lethal force to protect a fetus could have allowed the killing of abortion providers. In Texas, a proposed bill would have outlawed all abortions, with no exceptions for rape or incest. And at the national level, a Republican effort to redefine rape (part of the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortions Act”) ultimately fizzled after a public outcry.